Squadmates in HK

I went for a special squad outing last Monday! :D Janson was in HK so Yeukho, him and I met up at Mongkok for lunch and explored Tsim Sha Tsui area + Citygate outlets at Tung Chung.

Outside Mongkok station

We walked around the area in the name of adventure but we horland-ed in the end. Used GPS and found our way to

Tsui Wah restaurant at Portland Street!

I had wanton noodles (same old same old because I love HK wanton!!), Yeukho had pork chop baked rice with tomatoes while Janson had their famous pork cartilage noodles!

Janson's

<3

杨枝柑露 from 许留香 is another of my cravings whenever I visit HK!

View from 星光大道 in the day. Gloomy foggy day :(

I like this bros shot :D

Didn’t manage to take many photos at Citygate because we were busy shopping :b I ended up not buying the hello kitty crocs that were only about 200 HKD because it didn’t look very nice when worn..maybe it’s just my feet. Nevertheless, cute pair of crocs maybe I’ll get it for my kid next time. LOL.. Okay but I didn’t leave Citygate empty-handed! I bought a something for my bro for his birthday :D

Anyway, this is one of the few times I went out with Yeukho in the 6 years of knowing him so it was really a nice meet-up! Especially now that he has Facebook, he’s actually quite active. Yay :) I don’t know when I’m gonna see him again, probably at least a year later when I go to HK.. Take care bro!

Okey time to sleep! Goodnight :))

Korea 2011

Day One

Had breakfast next to a beautiful sunrise :)

Ride from Airport to Blue Pearl

Took a bus from the airport to our hotel straight which cost 15000won per pax and the journey was around an hour or so. Afterwards we checked in to Hotel Blue Pearl in the afternoon and it was not bad at all! I just realised that I didn’t take a photo of the room lol, but it was really not bad. Even though it isn’t very near the city, it is still quite convenient to travel around via the subway (within walkable distance from the hotel). It’s a business hotel so there were cheap room service food plus computor with fast Internet connection. Not forgetting the huge plasma TV and I absolutely love the bathtub ‘cos it’s a mini-jacuzzi!! Hahaha I take my time just soaking in it and watching shen diao on my ipod. Shiok :)

View from hotel corridor

The two bears bro bought for x and I :D

Caffebene red bean dessert

Next, bro recommended us a red bean dessert which was awesome! I’m not a fan of red bean (I don’t eat 红豆冰) but I found it so yummy. Shaved ice in a cup topped with red bean paste and served with rice cake and almond flakes. Went to take the train to Seoul tower after that for some sight-seeing.

Mum and I outside the place we had dessert

En-route to subway station (Hotel Blue Pearl is right there on the left)

So comforting to eat hot food in the freezing weather :)

Koreans are so healthy!! A very major generalisation here but let me try to back up my inference. Subway stations have very little/no escalators. To change trains at an interchange station, we had to walk quite a distance and take stairs. What I like about their subway stations is that they have shops selling shoes, clothes, food etc inside the paid areas of the station which makes walking from place to place less boring!

Market within a train

I was so fascinated by this, transforming a train into a market during off-peak hours is brilliant.

Tickets to cable car

Finally reached Seoul Tower!

I have never been able to appreciate those landmark towers like those at Beijing/Macau so I wasn’t particularly interested when I was at the Seoul Tower. Nevertheless, took some nice photos while I was there. We visited the Teddy Bear museum and also walked around at the top.  It was freezing there though that day it was -5 or -7 deg Celsius!

At the entrance

Teddies

Strum strum strum ~

Dancing bear lool

Favourite bear!

So cute!

:)

This wishing tree is like the love-locks on the bridge at Paris. People write love messages or wishes on the lock, lock it onto the wire and throw the key down the mountain to signify eternal togetherness <3

Some other photos taken at the area:

Mummy and I

What a lovely present right...

Bro and I on the bus

Next: shopping!

So many Korean girls are wearing these :O

That potato thing that KLP has and I personally think the one at KLP tastes better!

Vitamin handcream

Shaped bokeh using my little tool :)

Yummy dinner

Day One ended with a short walk around the city area just looking around. It was very cold at night so my fingers were freezing while taking photos and the melted snow which became black from dirt on the streets made it hard to walk. Nevertheless, I had a nice time going around with my camera. Just the kind of life I like.

Day Two

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Started Day Two by going to Gyeongbokgung Palace. This place very much reminded me about Beijing’s Forbidden City with all the frozen lakes, Chinese-looking structures, those big spaces around for the kings and queens to chill etc.

Three of us at GBG

Ice-skating rink hahaha

<3

This place is closed to public but we were too curious what was inside LOL

First attempt at lens flare

Here comes my favouritest meal in Seoul..

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MUKSHIDONNA!

Seafood hotpot

It’s basically this spicy hotpot with seafood and ramen instead that tastes soo miraculously yummy together.

At the end, they will take your pot with all the leftover sauce inside and make fried rice. (Make sure you order the fried rice!!) It was heavenly <3

The awesome fried rice

After that I forgot where we went to, but along the streets we:

Had green tea ice-cream

Saw a handsome busker who sings really well

Got free Toblerone from Toblerone mascots which looked.. big and clumsy but really cute

Had more street food

Later on we had spicy chicken for dinner! Bro said that this place has many branches and is very popular so we decided to try it.. No regrets as well. To think about it, I don’t think I had a single bad meal in Korea. Everything tasted so good.

Mix mix mix

Cabbing back to hotel. Their GPS so cute right in the day got sun at night got stars

Day Three

Mum and I on the way to Nami Island

Where they had the kiss scene in dong ji lian ge

Beside the frozen river loll

LOL I wonder why this is in Nami Island

Love the trees!

Nom

Later on we had lunch at the restaurant on Nami Island. I thought it would be very rip-off but it wasn’t too bad! We had Ginseng chicken soup! The one we had was quite tasteless hmm but it is interesting because they stuff rice into the chicken lol.

Ginseng chicken soup

Humble dinner at a humble restaurant

:)

Korean strawberries back at the hotel

Day Four

Huge Hyun Bin face at Coex heheh

Coex Aquarium as the last stop

After that didn’t really take much photos already, Just more shopping and when it was night time we flew back! I reached Singapore at 23.59PM on 31^st Dec hahaha.

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Yay this is finally up! :) All in all, I love Korea because everything is just so good! Food, people, shopping, etc.. Hope to go there in Summer someday so I can buy more clothes at Myeongdong haha :D

Midnight

Man says to God:”God, why did you make woman so beautiful?”
God says:”so you would love her.”
“But God,” the man says,”why did you make her so dumb?”
God says:”so she would love you.”

:) Something I read from Qingyi’s FB.

Just skyped with x.. There’s still a long way to go before I go back to SG :/ Still not feeling like I miss Singapore yet but I think it will set it soon. Wondering what I would be doing if I haven’t gotten myself a data card.. Probably rotting away ._. Shall try to borrow sports shoes and exercise tomorrow.

I’ll be meeting my paternal family again this coming Sat! I shall bring my camera along hehe maybe can play with my cousins’ camera gear. My uncle owns a 7D, one of my cousins own a 5d mark ii, the other has a 60D and my cousin-in-law owns a Nikon. So awesome! Love meeting the kids there as well aww it’s like every time I come back they grow taller and look a bit older, makes me feel so touched yet old. Hahaha.

Korea post, HK post and reviewing 2011 will be up here in a while! Am typing the Korea one at night before I sleep.. Hopefully it will be up soon.

Thankful for my family, x and friends :) <3

HK-bound

Flying to HK tomorrow! My last chance overseas before embarking on my plans before release of results. Kind of looking forward to it but on the other hand I don’t wanna leave as well because I will be missing Orientation and a few gatherings. But well speaking of gatherings, I’m happy that I met E and my primary school class today! :) After lunching at PS, went to Vivo to meet 6A for Dimsum buffet then lepak at the rooftop pool place.. Even though we didn’t do a lot, it was nice catching up and all. Whoo :)

Hoot

I haven’t exactly tried it but this time round I’m truly turning nocturnal. 2 days ago my flight made me sleep at around 5am, yesterday I slept from 7-9pm or so to prepare for Huaxin’s overnight farewell at the airport. I’m cocksure I screwed up my bodyclock already ‘cos I just woke up after reaching home from the airport at around 1pm. I took a while to realise that I wasn’t just waking up in the morning because it really felt so, LOL. Hopefully I can adjust it back if not the early waking-up in HK is gonna take a toll on me ._.

I’m back from Seoul! It was quite a nice trip spending some alone time with my bro and mum, something that is so hard to get in Singapore because we are all busy with our own commitments and don’t see each other at home that often as before. A few issues dawned upon me during this trip but I’m really glad they did :) Shall do up a Seoul post when I’m in HK perhaps during the nights when I’m alone at home with nothing to do! Hopefully I can get the data sim card that Jo was talking about so I don’t have to camp beside the window at night to try to steal other people’s network. 1. It’s bad, 2. It’s cold there at night!

Went to Greg’s house yesterday afternoon to plan the HK trip. Itinerary all out! A pity somebody doesn’t dare to go Ocean Park :( But I’m happy that we are doing something different from what tourists usually do there – shop eat shop eat walk walk. We’re going for a hike on the second day! :) And I like it that we are maximising our days there by waking up slightly earlier so we can do more things. My last overseas trip before starting work, hope I’ll enjoy it with good itinerary and awsm travel buddies :D

Hua Xin’s farewell was nice as well. Had fun playing Ninja with ninjas and writing cool notes for Hua Xin. Haha :D Celebrated a few birthdays as well. We gave Ya Hui a watch for 21st birthday, which (I think) inspired me to visit ASOS and saw this watch:

It’s on sale now so the price dropped from SGD$80 to SGD$42! Should I get this it’s so chio and I don’t have a formal watch! I shall wait for a while and see if I really want it or not. Pray that it doesn’t go OOS if I decide to get it lol..

Alright I’m gonna eat dinner now which is actually my breakfast.

Meeting 6A’05 people tomorrow, feeling happy even though I’ll be missing their Dimsum buffet.. It’s okay!! Lol at self-consolation ._.

Blogging from hotel room!

Blogging from the hotel! :) It’s been long since I typed on those normal desktop keyboards.. I like the feeling when the button bounces back up hahaha. Okay it’s awesome having a computor with such a huge screen in the room! :)

Past 2 days have been quite enjoyable! Oh gosh thankfully I’m here during winter, if not when Myeongdong sells clothes suitable for summer I’m dead. within an hour I got pair of boots and oxfords (both SGD10 each!!!), backpack (SGD16), earrings, badges, stickers, ZI CAI and so on. ZI CAI must emphasize ‘cos it was $1 but there was so much in the packet plus it’s so yummy :D All gobbled up within a few minutes by my bro and I aha. Shall buy more tomorrow!

Took lotsa photos as well but it’s still not snowing yet :( Or rather there was snow but it’s not heavy enough to literally see it.. Hopefully it snows heavily at least once before I go back ><

On a side note, I’m sad that I didn’t go for seniors’ initiation/cohesion. Don’t know when I’m gonna see everyone again.. Soon I hope!

Gonna visit Nami island tomorrow and my bro says we need to wake up early, so byee! :D

Next stop.. Seoul!

Will be spending my next 5 nights in Blue Pearl Hotel in Seoul, Korea! :D Have been looking forward to this trip for so long! Shall take lotsa photos over there and I really hope it snows.. Haven’t seen snow all my life and now that I have my 600d, hopefully I can use her well! :)

Going to Dressabelle’s private sale tomorrow, hope to get some shiok deals, head home and off I fly. I will be back on the 1st of Jan, so til then people.. HAPPY NEW YEAR IN ADVANCE! :D

 

Potato Salad!

Nomnomnom. Made Potato Salad again at home a few days ago and since I took photos, shall do a recipe post!

Ingredients (Scroll down for respective proportions)

Potatoes of course! :)

White onions

Eggs

Coarse black pepper

One of the most important ingredients.. Kraft MIRACLE WHIP!

It is important to use Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise! If you look at the nutritional facts labels on standard mayonnaise jars right, for every serving of 100g, ~70g is fat! For Miracle Whip however it is about 20-30! Healthier choice and it’s more yummy than mayonnaise too in my opinion.

Lastly, get a pack of streaky bacon! :)

Proportions:
11 potatoes
2 big white onions
4 eggs
1 jar of miracle whip
1 pack of streaky bacon
As much/little black pepper as you like it!

Serves about 10 people.

Procedure

Step 1: Preparing the potatoes

Cooking the potatoes

You can do it like what I did here, put water in a ricecooker (about 4-5cm depth), prop the potatoes up, cover them and switch on the ricecooker like you would cook rice. I used a metal stand to support the potatoes but you can use anything that can withstand high heat and small enough to fit inside :)

Alternatively, just put the potatoes in a pot, fill it with water until all the potatoes are covered and boil. I don’t do it this way because it takes quite a long time. Check how cooked the potatoes are with a fork and stop when you like how hard/soft it is.

Botak potatoes

Some people like to eat potato salad with some skin (I am one of them), but if you would like, peel the potatoes either with a peeler or just with your hands! Potato skin comes off very quickly when it is hot. If your fingers cannot tahan the heat, have a basin of cold water while you are doing this.

From 2 potatoes

Afterwards, dice the potatoes into bite-sized pieces!

Step 2: Preparing onions

Chop off the top and bottom parts of the onion

Chop off the brown parts of the onion using a knife and peel off the onion skin.

Peeled onion

Now chop the onions into smaller pieces. First chop the onion into half, slice the onion in one direction, turn the slices 90 degrees and slice again. You’ll get quite nicely chopped pieces!

All chopped :D

Step 3: Hard-boiled eggs

No pictures for hard-boiled eggs but it is really quite simple. Just put the eggs in a pot, add water and make sure it covers all the eggs. Boil for about 20 minutes and it should be done! After that just use an egg-slicer to slice the eggs or if you do not have one, cut them up into small pieces just like the onions.

Step 4: Bacon

Bacon in the wok

Take the bacon out of the fridge about 30 minutes before cooking. Heat up a wok for about 20 seconds under medium heat and add a little bit of oil. Don’t need to add too much because bacon itself produces a lot of oil when cooked, so you can even cut away some of the fatty parts before frying. Lay the bacon streaks flat on the wok and turn it slowly until they are evenly cooked.

Okay this part will sound like drying crystals in Chem SPA LOL. Dry the bacon slices between 2 sheets of paper towel then cut it up to bite-sized pieces.

Step 5: Miracle Whip

Mix everything together with miracle whip!

Step 6:Black pepper

The final product!

And we’re done! If you try it, good luck! Hope you like it :)

Missing those days..

Found my primary school uniform sitting deep in my drawer. Plus seeing Liwen’s instagram photo of the playground outside TPS reminded me of those mama shop ice stick days, playing blind mice at the area, death ride, choir.. Really miss my primary school classmates man. Now that exams are over, can’t wait to meet them! It’s great to see how people are still so enthu in meeting up. Even though it’s not all, a close-knitted bunch of around 10-15 people out of 40 for 6 years is quite an acheivement ba! :)

Anyway, dropped by Aspen before going to school for SJ, then went ECP to cycle in the evening with a few seniors :) It was quite chill ‘cos the wind was very cooling then! Sigh at first was quite sad that I can’t control the front part of the tandem bike (like keep cycling in S shape), but felt better when Liwen couldn’t do it too hahahaha :b Ate at C.Nai HK cafe before heading back! Quite happy with the knit top I bought today heh.

Life’s good. Goodbye! :D

Thing things

The little thing things that the squaddies all used to have :')

Found a bag of them in my drawer and it caught my eye amongst all the other cutesy stuff in there. Wobbly heads, hands and legs, some lost a leg, others an arm or the ball chain at the top of their heads. Nevertheless, seeing them evoked memories in lower sec with the squaddies. Thing things used to be quite popular and I remember raving about how cool the glow-in-the-dark ones were.. Good times :’)