My Trip to Singapore part 1

The last time I went to Singapore I was 15 years old, so now after ten years has passed I went there again. This time it was to visit my grandparents who have moved there. It was a four day, four nights stay and to me it wasn't enough. 

30/4/2010 (Friday)

6:30 p.m. was the time the bus was leaving and at 6pm my family and I have yet to get a taxi to where the bus departs. My parents drove out to the streets to find a taxi, luckily by 6:15 we got one. Once we were there we just rushed onto the bus and then my dad's phone rang, First Coach was asking my dad to register first. It was funny because this is the first time we took a bus to Singapore and we didn't know what needed to be done. Our 1st trip to Singapore as a family started with anticipation and excitement. The journey on the bus took more than 5 hours, my sister was watching the movies provided by the bus, my mom was recalling her time in Singapore when she was younger and I was sleeping as I couldn't watch any show from my seat.

We reached the Singapore customs after 11:30 and went into Singapore, it took about 30 minutes to reach the drop off point for the bus. My aunt and uncle also came at the same time to pick us up where the bus drops us, Novena Square. My grandmother was inside the car waiting for us, it's so good to see her, missed her so much. My grandmother insisted to look for food for us as we have been on the bus without dinner. We passed by a place selling chicken rice and so decided to pack it back to eat.

At home we all shared the food and it was good and tasty. The packaging was really clean and neat, the chili was in a sealed plastic bag. In Malaysia the rice and chicken are packed in polyester packs and in Singapore it's inside nice plastic box.  We were all tired and so we went to bed in the third floor.

1/5/2010 (Saturday)

Early in the morning I could hear my cousin brother crying, but I continued to sleep until 9 something my sister and I woke up. We got ready to go to the nearby market for breakfast, one thing good about Singapore's area structure, every housing area have a market, food court and a train station that is walking distance. It took less than 10 minutes and less than 1 km to reach the place, my aunt, cousin sisters, my mom, sister and I walked there, it was fun. We had beef ball noodles and my aunt showed us more of their new home and the area. There was a small shopping mall and the MRT was very near too. We walked home to rest as lunch time we were heading to Resort World Sentosa.

At 11:45am, my uncle drove all of us to Resort World Sentosa, my aunt's new work place. My aunt treated us lunch there at a VIP restaurant, the food was good and special. After that, we walked around the hotels and took some pictures, in our next trip we decide to visit Universal Studios, for there were many people as it was a public holiday in Singapore. It was a hot afternoon, we also went in the casino. The casino was so crowded, many gamblers at roulette table, blackjack table and poker table. Even the slot machines were full of people sitting there and gambling. My grandmother gave my sister 10sgd to try her virgin luck, she won back the 10sgd and then lost it to the classic slot machine. It was a confusing game as we don't understand how we got points. We went home tired and took a nap until dinner.

For dinner we went into the city to a restaurant that had the same reading sound as my grandmother's name. The food that was served was Hainan style, the pork chop was very good. After that my uncle drove us around town awhile and we passed by Little India, there were many people there and mostly are Indians, it's like looking at Brickfields, KL that is 5 times bigger and more crowded. My parents went to visit my grandaunt who lived nearby after that and all the children and my grandfather went to bed. 

Trip to the market

Resort World Sentosa

Queen of Babble - Gets Hitched

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched is the last book of the series for Lizzie Nichols. The previous story ended with Lizzie waking up at her apartment to find Chaz next to her but dressed and Luke at her door looking for her. Luke was suppose to be in France but he came back because he wanted to propose to Lizzie. Lizzie temporary avoided a conflict between the two friends by asking Luke to get her coffee and then she shoos Chaz out of the house. Chaz is pretty pissed as he feels there is something between them and does not agree to Lizzie getting back with Luke.

Luke proposes and Lizzie accepted it and she is on her way of becoming a bride.Lizzie is busy planning her dream wedding but many problem arises where the best man (Chaz) and maid of honor (Shari) does not support the marriage. Lizzie's wedding will be in south of France but her family wants in at their backyard. At the mean time, Luke's family is influencing him to quit studying medicine and going back into investment banking. While Lizzie is busy planning her wedding she also is busy with her career where she needs to design a wedding gown for a celebrity. The celebrity is a troublesome person, wanting this and that, behaving not what a bride-to-be is suppose to.

In all these problems, Lizzie starts having doubts about her wedding and whether Luke is the one for her. Chaz is simply mad at her and thinks that he is the one for her instead. Lizzie doesn't want to be a bad girl and be with Chaz and dump Luke.

What you'll find in this book is the development of Chaz and Lizzie's relationship, her career development and more family involvement. Meg Cabot inserted special parts just like the previous two books, which are "A History of Weddings" and "Tip to avoid a Wedding Day Disaster", not to forget quotes but this time not on gossip but on soul mates and union of two souls. I really enjoyed reading those small small things that is in the book, it really widens my knowledge on history on weddings. Drama and funny are the key essence of this series and this book still gives plenty of it. You would read keep reading to find out how the drama ends and will Lizzie end up with Luke or Chaz or neither? I'm really happy with the ending and I find that this series is much better than Heather Well's which I will blog about later.

Queen of Babble - In the Big City

Lizzie Nichols has graduated and is out to find a job but she isn't lucky as she couldn't find the perfect job. Her best friend's boyfriend (Chaz) helped her and so she is working as a receptionist at Chaz's father's law firm. There she start her gossiping again and has many job troubles. In the mean time, she is volunteering to work in a wedding gown shop. She really loves it and wants to be a certified wedding gown specialist.

Lizzie's love life seems to have a good start where Luke from the previous book has ask her to live with him and she agrees. Then she manages to bring up the M word at Luke and soon finds herself no place to stay. Other than that, Lizzie is meddling with a famous person's wedding and soon find herself needing to design and refine the wedding dress of this person. Many troubles occurs as Lizzie does not manage to shut her mouth up at important hours.

What I like about this second book is the humour is ongoing and I'm curious at how things will end for Lizzie be it her relationship or her career. In this book, Meg Cabot has a topic before each new chapter and it is Lizzie's wedding gown guide. I learnt a lot from the guide on wedding gowns, it is really interesting. Also when a new chapter starts, there will be quotes regarding gossip from famous people just like the first book.

This books builds more on Luke and Chaz's characters where we find out more about those two gentlemen who are best friends. We get to see more of Lizzie becoming more mature and responsible and how her friend developed too.The second book definitely had more drama than the first one, I enjoyed this book more than the first where you don't know what to expect from Lizzie and the people around her. The ending of the book is sort of suspended which indicates that there will be another book coming. This is a must read to follow up on Lizzie Nichol's messy, dramatic but yet funny life.

Queen of Babble

With no place to go and no money to leave London, Lizzie Nichols is in big trouble, and also the money to visit her boyfriend in London is her college graduation money. When she reached London she was only filled with disappointment, she couldn't recognise Andrew and thought he was a stalker. She then went to live with Andrew and the family in a small flat which was kinda disastrous for she thought they would be alone. Lizzie was further disappointed when she found that that her boyfriend wasn't honest at all and was trying to cheat some money out of her, so then she gets away from him and calls her best friend Shari for help.

Thank to Shari, Lizzie managed to get a job by helping Shari cater at a wedding in south of France. She then takes a train to south of France to reach the Chateau Mirac. It's an exciting summer  where Lizzie's meets someone special on the train and found out that he (Luke) is the bribe's cousin.  She also messes up a lot because of her big mouth and the things she says. She still manages to fix the problems in the end and gets hooked up with the handsome Luke.

This book is filled with lots of laughter, interesting love story and great character development. I really enjoyed this book by Meg Cabot and you could see a lot of research must have been done for in every new chapter there is a quote that is related to gossiping for Lizzie loves to do that. Other than that, the writer also inserts Lizzie's final year thesis before every chapter which is some small parts of the thesis. The thesis is about history of fashion which I don't know anything myself so it was a good read. This is one of those Meg Cabot books that are hard to put down because you keep wanting to know who Lizzie will end up with, how she solves her problems and tries to learn to shut her mouth. I give this book a rating of 5/5, it's one of those chic lit that aren't normal because Meg fills it with humour and drama easily, I would definitely read it again in the future. A small note to all, this Queen of Babble is an adult series not like Princess Diaries who are meant for young adult and even children.

Blood+ - 3 - Boy meets Girl

Around the world they travel and this time Saya and Red Shield have gone to Paris, France. Saya is busy training to toughen herself and Riku had become a Chevalier which puts Kai in the outs as Riku and Saya shares the same blood. Riku is happy but Kai feels left out and helpless. So he wanders off in Paris walking around aimlessly and suddenly he bumped into the enemy, "The Schiff". "The Schiff" are after Saya's blood as they think it's the only way to save their lives that are crumbling downwards. They are manmade chiropterans from a research lab in Kilbed which is funded by the enemy. Kai only saw one of the gang walking around alone, she was amazed by Paris and seemed harmless, therefore he followed her.

A gang of man tried to harm her and Kai thought she would fight back but she couldn't do anything. Kai jumped into the rescue and escaped with her and decided to help her. He brought Aurelien back to the hideout and everyone had their guard up for fear it was a trap. The Schiff followed Aurelien's scent to the hideout and tried to save her which cause a lot of misunderstanding and a lot of fighting.Aurelien and Kai tried to clear the misunderstanding and managed to convince Saya to save The Schiff by givng her blood willingly instead of forcefully taking it. Since Aurelien was dying, Saya gave her blood but it did not work. The Schiff are greatly saddened as they lost one of their sisters and lost hope that they can save themselves. They decided that Diva could be their only hope now.

Kai is saddened too by the situation and also distanced himself from the family. He went to the Eiffel Tower to commemorate Aurelien's death and found that Saya was there too. They talked it out and their bond became stronger.After that Saya decides to read Joel's diary and find out her past and how she came to be. The story reached it's climax when the leader of the chevaliers found a mole in Red Shield and plans an attack in a month's time. Diva and Karl decided to have some fun and went to the ship where Red Shield's headquarters are after the mole told the location. Everyone was caught in a fight and many were hurt. Saya lost someone dear to her and after the incident she disappears for a year along with Hagi. The story continues in London where Saya meets her only family member left again. Diva is up to no good as she took over the body of Saya's family. Saya defeats two of the five chevaliers of Diva's.The book ends where Saya have to travel to USA to continue chasing after Diva and to put a stop to whatever sinister plan that the enemy have.

This novel is separated into two sections which is Paris and London which indicates the location where Saya is in. It's kinda hard to imagine a sword fight and even a war zone for me which in this case the third book has much to offer. I liked the part where the writer gives Saya and the Schiff a good relationship this time where they help each other to one common goal. The whole story stresses on family bonds and relationship many times where we read about The Schiff's, Saya's and also Diva's chevaliers. All of them have tight bonds and care greatly about each other, the devotion and loyalty is wonderful where we often question ourselves it is the same for us. Despite being family members, some people are willing to abuse them at will, to manipulate the bonds and trusts to gain what they want. This is just wrong. It is awful to hear but you can't deny the fact that it's happening right now in every part of the world.

The writer did give the readers some fun where good versus evil isn't hopeless. Sadly there aren't always happy endings where one good character dies but two bad people dies. I'm looking forward to how the last book will end the story. I would give this book a 3/5, it has good action but I feel some parts are quite draggy and some parts lacks some explanation. Overall the writer did a good job on the important parts.

Enchanted Glass

We all live ordinary lives, have ordinary jobs and ordinary friends. Things changed when Andrew's grandfather(Jocelyn Brandon) passed, he is given an important duty which is to care for his grandfather's field of care. When he was young he spent many of his summers with his grandfather at his home in a village. He loved spending time with his grandfather but he has forgotten most of it. Andrew quit his job as a Professor in a university to write a book. He moved into the house his grandfather left for him, he also kept the servants that his grandfather had.

The cleaner and the gardener have never been in good terms but they work fine with Andrew's grand father. Mrs Stock likes to moves things when Andrew rearranges the furniture and Mr Stock grows huge vegetables in the garden. Whenever Mrs Stock was mad at Andrew she will cook cauliflower cheese to make him angry. Both Mr Stock and Mrs Stock had think that Andrew was weird in a way and wanted to set him straight, thus they both offered their relatives as help to Andrew. So Andrew hired Mr Stock's niece(Stashe) and Mrs Stock's nephew(Shaun) in order not to make the two elderly angry.

Adventures began when a young boy Aidan Cain came to seek help from Andrew's grandfather but did not know he had passed. Weird people were after Aidan and many of them are unable to pronounce his name which was a relief as they would be able to command him to them. Thus Andrew begin his adventures with Aidan where they find out how big is Jocelyn's field of care. The story goes on how they came to realize the power of the enchanted glass. Along with the many people who are associated with Andrew they fight the evil who is after Aidan.

Dianne Wynne Jones have not cease to amaze me, from the first time I picked up Howl's Moving Castle I have been in love with her writing. Her fantasy stories are not the typical ones where there are swordsman, magicians, thieves and priest. The stories are unique in a way where magic are just in our current world, where it is living parallel with us. Her stories are often about family, about love that just happens without you knowing, you'll never know what you get from reading her books. Though her target of readers are either children or young adults but I still love the type of fantasy stories because it always fresh and new.

Julie & Julia

This story has really inspired me to blog more. Based on two true stories,the two main characters are both living in different times.One in the 1940's and another in 2002. Julie in year 202 was somewhat lost in her life, not finishing things she had started. Influenced by Julia Child, Julie started a project. This project is attempting to cook everything in Julia's french cookbook in a year's time. Julie blogs about her project on the internet and it's an everyday thing. 524 recipes and 365 days, she would have to cook at least one recipe per day and she blogs about her journey everyday.

Having something to do everyday and to blog about is a good thing, because you have something to do at least once a day. I believe blogging improves your writing skills as well and expressing your thoughts and experiences at the same time. Julie was going to be a writer but she only finished half a novel, not enough to be a writer. After work and feeling sad she will do the one thing she loves to do and that is cooking which helps her to relax and makes her happy.

Julia on the other hand has a story of her own and it's about her journey in french cooking, how her cookbook came to be. She moved to Paris with her husband and she absolutely loves eating french food. As a housewife she has nothing to do at home but feeling bored and so she takes lessons in making hats and then playing bridge but it's not exciting enough for her. Therefore she searches for french cookbooks to learn french cooking and found there isn't one in English, all of it are in french which she is not familiar with.

Julia with determination in learning went to a cooking school. She started with basics but it was just too basic such as how to boil an egg. She then joins a more advanced class where she is the only woman in there. She was the last in class but with her determination she practices at home and soon she is top of her class. After graduating from the cooking school she teaches US housewives french cooking with two more ladies who are french. These two ladies were writing a cookbook in English but did not succeed in publishing it and asked Julia to join. Therefore Julia Child's cookbook was in the making.

This story inspired me to be more determined in pursuing a dream or even small things that you like to do, be it cooking, sewing, drawing and many more. Having something to do everyday, something you love to do, it makes life more fulfilling. This is because you have something to look forward everyday, you put your heart into it and you enjoy your outcome. I will be on the lookout on what projects that I can tackle and blog about everyday and hopefully it improves my writing which brings me closer to be a writer. Hopefully one day I will be a writer and have a few books of my own, I also like the idea of becoming an editor :P.

Planner of 2010

365 days of 2009 had passed by and it's time for a new planner. You can find many of these planners for sale in bookstores during the month of December itself. There are many shape and sizes, some people will buy those planner that they can keep changing and refill the paper once a year. Those planners for a start cost a lot depending on what your preferences is, leather cover ones are expensive but they can last longer. There are also simple planners that you change every year, calendar, notes and space for noting your everyday plans of every month. These are the ones you chuck every year or keep it for reminder so every year it will cost you some money for these planners.

I used to have those that just change the refills, but I stopped using it because I couldn't find stores for the refills anymore so I swap to those that you change yearly. I browsed some at Kinokuniya and those are absolutely beautiful, there are many shape and sizes and the paper inside have wonderful designs, kinda heart pain to write on it and ruin the picture. So I didn't buy those because they cost a lot too, about 50-100 ringgit, which is a lot.

Fortunately at the December 2006 a wonderful friend of mine gave me a wonderful gift, a planner for 2007 from Starbucks. The design is very nice, plenty of space to write down your plans, put in extra notes and of course public holidays noted in the calendar. Here's some pictures:



After having this wonderful planner,I've decided to get one from Starbucks the following year and further on. The 2008 one required me to drink 18 drinks before I can get it free, with the help of family and friends I got it, I can't possibly drink 18 frappuccinos within a month. Pictures of 2008 Starbucks Planner:

As you can see the 2007 one has more space for writing daily plans where one page has two days and this planner above try to cram 7 days into two pages. I also got the one for 2009 by drinking frappuccinos again :P. Pictures are as below:



This planner has a leather cover, the design is okay but sadly this planner has no ready drawn daily spaces for you to use. Only note pages are found, so I divided the lines and drew my own. I still preferred the 2007 one. This year the cover of the planner is hard and solid which can last very long. It has a standard 6 pin holes maybe I am able to find refills for next year. Pictures:


Thankfully this year's planner has the daily space drawn out again, no need to do it myself but still a bit cramped compared to 2007. Too bad they want to save cost and print it that way because the 2007 planner is the thickest of all 4 I have. Well time to fill the planner up with 2010 plans which so far I don't have any yet. Hopefully I will have lots of activities and not many blank pages like last year :(.