Living It Up

I finally have an inkling of what nickname to call the new girl in my department.  I think Miss Atas would describe her quite aptly.  This morning, I rang her at 8:05am to see if she wanted to meet at the lift lobby and go down for the breakfast buffet together.  She said she wasn’t ready yet and wouldn’t be ready for a while more.  I asked if she was going to skip breakfast and she said she ordered room service.  *Faints*.  Room service?!?  The rooms we booked came with free breakfast and she orders room service?  Gosh.  I didn’t know what to say.  I mean… the company already paid for the buffet breakfast… then she goes and order room service.  Not paiseh meh?  Moreover, I think practically everyone attending the conference was at the buffet breakfast ‘cos it’s a good time to socialise and network with colleagues from other offices!

During breakfast, Upsize and Bigmac asked me where was Atas.  I said she wasn’t ready yet.  Then they asked if she wasn’t going to have breakfast.  So I told them that she ate in her room.  I suspect Bigmac may have spoken to her after that ‘cos before we parted ways at the end of the evening, she asked what time was I going down for breakfast tomorrow.  Told her I couldn’t be sure since the conference starts at 8am tomorrow so I may skip breakfast if I can’t wake up in time.  I also asked Atas why she ordered room service today.  She said it was ‘cos she planned to wake up at 6am so that she could take her time to get ready.  I was shocked… ‘cos our conference started at 9am today!!  Does one need 3 hrs to get ready?!  She said she also wanted to spend a bit of time to read some of the materials Bigmac sent for the conference… but still!  3hrs?!  Pengz.  No wonder yesterday she was late both times that we arranged to meet up.  To think she has the cheek to ask me if brokers are always late (she just joined us from an insurer).  Duh.  I feel like telling her I think insurers tend to be later.

Anyway, Atas has been easy to chat with thus far… but I think I need more time to observe her before I can figure out what sort of person is she.  So far, she seems like someone who needs to be pampered… a high maintenance type of gal.  Hmm.  Sigh.  Gotta go shower soon.  Patience is pissed off with me ‘cos I offered to let a Thai colleague bunk over tomorrow night ‘cos we’ll be going for drinks after dinner with the underwriters so it might be more convenient for her to stay at the hotel instead of driving home (though she stays a short drive away).

Now I concur with Patience that I may have just invited more hassle for myself while providing convenience to someone else.  After all, I’m a late sleeper and I always wake up late… not sure how we’re going to sort out the sharing of the toilet on Wed morn.  Bleah.  Shouldn’t have been so nice.  Sigh… I’m supposed to check my office email and reply some new queries that came in.  Sian jit pua.  Maybe I’ll tell Bigmac that I was konked out (I am rather zonked out now) and didn’t manage to check my email.

Ok lah.  Time to shower.  Shall leave you with erm… a couple of blur pics I took on the way to dinner.   HAHAHA.

Temple of the Dawn

The Grand Palace (I think)

The Thais really revere their king.

Some temple… hahaha.  I forgot the name already.

Pics are blur ‘cos they were taken from a very unstable boat.  Goodnight!

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Had a lovely weekend at Bintan.  We saw lots of wild life at the resort… shall let the photos do the talking…

We had a comfy room on the 3rd floor.

View from our hotel room.

There’re 101 things to do at Nirwana Gardens.

Like getting a massage…

Snakes & Ladders or…

Lizards?

Iceman prefers a more intellectual game.

We enjoyed white sands and blue skies.

Sighted some beached whales

I liked the fact the pool didn’t have an overpowering chlorine smell.

The bubbly pool was nice too!

Nature lovers may enjoy swimming with wild life (in the pool!).

Or have a drink at the pool bar.

Shot of the pool.

Yummy Korean dinner at Jeju restaurant.

Ultimate Nachos (better than the ones at Harry’s!)

Tiramisu

Fruit Cheese Cake

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Pink Passion (light rum, strawberries, vanilla and I can’t remember what else.  Heh.)

Irish Cream something… *hic*

I think this resort has a lot of future…

Get it?  Get it?  Hehehehehehehe.

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I’m proud to say that despite my short trip this time (arrived on Mon night, leaving now - Wed late afternoon), I managed to accomplish all the personal stuff that I wanted to do!

Woke up a little later on Tue morn - 9:30am since the morning meeting was postponed.  Once Upsize confirmed that we would only be meeting at 11:45am, I ran out of my hotel room at 11:10am to go to The Landmark’s supermart to buy my dried mangoes!  Wanted to get dried jackfruit but it was out of stock.  Heh.  Bought dried bananas instead, as well as Wrigley’s chewing gum.  Hehe.  After my purchase, I ran (really really ran) all the way back to the hotel so that I could change out of my jeans into a suit to meet Upsize for meetings.  Heehee.  It was a good workout!

The 2nd thing that I simply had to do in Makati was to return to Via Mare Oyster Bar at Greenbelt 4.  I spoke about the food incessantly till Upsize agreed to take the underwriters there for dinner.  Come to think about it, the original dinner invitation was from the underwriters - as in they wanted to buy Upsize dinner.  (Ok, that sounds funny… as though they wanted to buy a huge meal…) Don’t know how come we ended up paying instead!  I mean, I got the bill ‘cos Upsize asked me to get it… but as I’m typing this, it suddenly occurred to me that… hey… it was supposed to be their treat!  Damn those underwriters!

Anyway, that was one torturous dinner.  ‘Cos though we were at the Oyster Bar, Upsize didn’t order oysters!!  Even after I asked at the end of the meal if we could order 1 plate of oysters but was turned down by Upsize.  Nonethless, I persevered.  I refused to give up.  After dinner, we went for 1 more drink, and then Upsize and 1 of the underwriters went off for more drinks, leaving me and another underwriter at Greenbelt.  The 2nd underwriter decided that she wanted to go back to her hotel to do some work so I gladly walked her to the cab stand, and returned to the oyster bar.

The waiter and security guard gave me strange looks when I walked in.  But I persisted and ate 16 oysters!  Woohoo!  Heehee… and it only cost S$15 lor.  Cheap right?  Heh.

Oh yeah.  Wanted to write about some new tips I learnt about Makati.

Firstly, if you ever stay at the Interon, and you pay for a "Club Interon" room, you get unlimited Internet access at the Club Lounge.  For Net access in the room however, you still have to pay for it… unless… you go to the Club Lounge, get a username and password, and then use that in your room.  Heehee.  Found that out by accident.  Heh.

Secondly, always always try to reach the airport in Manila 3h before your flight’s departure because it just takes super duper long to clear immigration.  And if you’re inside and have nothing to do, don’t bother about the foot massage or eating at the airport.  Just pay Php 400 (or USD 10) and use the "Paying Lounge" (aka the "Sampaguita Lounge") on the 4th level.  There’s snacks, buns, sandwiches, muffins and fruit juice that comes with the amount you pay.  Plus unlimited Internet access too!  Stupid me bought food from the departure hall before finding out about the Paying Lounge.  *Sniff*.

Oh… and guess what?  There was some Miss Earth Philippines pageant held at the hotel where I was staying in.  Unfortunately, the contestants weren’t that fantastic lah.

Wanted to get a pic of their faces but couldn’t whip my camera out in time.

Went for a 1.5h walk around Glorietta / Greenbelt area before I came to the airport.  Didn’t manage to do any shopping but I did come across the Ayala Museum at Greenbelt 4.  Was very hard pressed for time so I could only do a cursory tour of the 4 floors.  I would highly recommend it.  For only SGD15 (approximately), it was very worth it.  There’s a gold artefacts exhibition, exhibition of paintings, and a clay figurine type of exhibits telling the history of Philippines.  Definitely will visit it again on my next trip.  (Was so pressed for time I ran back from the museum to my hotel in 10min).

Ooh… I think I see my plane now.  Gotta go soon. 

See you back home folks!

P.S. Sorry if the formatting turns out warped ‘cos I’m rushing (again!)

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Life in Philippines is sloooooow.  My flight arrived early.  Instead of 8:40pm, I landed early at 8:25pm but waited till 9:05pm to get my luggage and by the time I got to the hotel, it was 10pm.  Sigh.  Was starving.  Took photos of my lovely room (not as luxurious as Shangri La but still nice nonetheless), then went to check out the Club lounge, and then headed to the coffee house for dinner.

Gosh!  Dinner was yummy but so pathetically small!!  I was starving even at the end of it.  Thinking I may eat the fruits in my room.  Heh.  Here’re the photos of my room & the hotel.

At the entrance of my room.  The toilet’s on the left, wardrobe’s on the right.

Sofa area.

I love the king-size bed.

Check out the nice cushiony hanger!

The pathetic little serving of Sukiyaki.

Hotel lobby.

Hotel lobby area.

I think the fruits will come in handy later… hungry…

I got a bit of a scare when I first opened my room door.  I heard this high buzzing sound… of a TV that’s switched on but switched to a silent channel.  I was a little scared ‘cos I was worried that maybe there was some screw up or something and the room was double booked. 

I paused for a short while but hearing no other noises, I ventured deeper into the room.  The TV was on.  But it was to the main menu and guess what?  The TV even had my name on it!  Fwah!  Talk about cool man!  Heehee.

Okie… gotta go shower… soon… *yawn*.

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When people heard I was going to Adelaide, everyone said the same thing to me - "It’s BORING!".  Well, Adelaide is indeed a very quiet town.  We stayed at 2 service apartments that were right in the heart of the city so that made getting around easy.  Food was cheaper in Adelaide too!  Thank goodness.  Haha.  And while drivers in Melbourne were quite paranoid about getting fined by the traffic police, the drivers in Adelaide were quite reckless!  I saw cars beating red lights at least 4 times a day.   It’s crazy man!!

Oaks Horizon - Master Bedroom.  Patience had a friend, Bearbear, who was smuggled to Australia in Iceman’s luggage.  She was very glad for the company though she kept beating him up at first ‘cos she thought he was trying to be funny by saying his name was "Bearbear".  She’s not very patient.

Our very well equipped kitchenette.

Nice living area.

A very interesting erm, dustbin in the middle of Rundell Street (that’s the main shopping street in Adelaide!)

Iceman & I visited Central Market & I just had to take a pic of the yellow bananas to honour the Funky Bananas!!

Chinatown.  I’m proud to be Chinese.  We’re everywhere!  Muahahaha.. *evil shriek*

I thought the message on the closed door was funny…

Iceman’s MBA course mate took us up Mt Lofty early early in the morning.  Pity it rained so the view was cloudy and we didn’t get to see anything.  Sigh.  Exact same sight that greeted me on Mt Wellington in Hobart!

We did manage to do a bit of walking and I was bushed!  (Pun intended…)

Sibeh high-tech public toilet ah!

The University of Adelaide

A typical historical "Victorian" style house in Australia.  Seen one, seen all.

The National Wine Centre in Adelaide.  (Booze Queen - took this pic to tempt u… rows and rows and rows of wine!!!!)

More booze!

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Very interesting pavements in Adelaide - strewn with coins from various Asian (I think) countries.  Saw 2 or 3 ringgit coins there… but only 1 SGD 0.20.  SGD not cheap..

Miller Apartments

Food for humans with no magical powers…

Hahndorf, a village where the early German settlers sunk roots.  So some sunk more than roots…

German Char Siew

Lego’s predecessor.  This model was made w/o glue or screws!  Just pegs!

I liked that reddish tree.  The leaves looked like maple leaves but I really don’t know what it is.

You can put bunnies on anything and I’ll like it!

Puppets!

Yummy Gelato!

The Pie Cart

Comes with special parking ok!

Adelaide’s Festival of Lights

Check out how the same building changes its look!

A mixture of various local produce at one of the vineyards in Mclaren Vale.  The cheese was sooooo good.  First time I actually loved the blue cheese!

Another vineyard… can’t remember the names now!

First public toilet in Victor Harbour ah!  Don’t play play.

This was supposed to be the biggest rocking horse in the world.  Heh.  Found the place by accident while driving to Barrosa Valley.

At the National Motor Museum

The Whispering Wall (it’s really a dam).

Yeah, works.

Iceman’s MBA convocation

Didn’t do much shopping but this is the Adelaide Arcade.  Heh.

Saw this sign at the Adelaide Airport.  I think they’re weird.  I wouldn’t drink water used for flushing toilets, recycled or not. 

Phew!  That was a looooong post since I spent 1 whole week in Adelaide.  Overall, it was a great trip.. though Bigmac is still sore about my long holiday!  Heh.

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Since this was my first trip to Australia, and given that I probably won’t be going back there for some time, I figured it would be good to check out more places.  So before meeting Iceman in Adelaide, I went to Hobart (Tasmania) with my mom, aunts and cousin.

We were warned by everyone that Tasmania was going to be really really cold.  "Prepare for snow", were my Australian cousin’s exact words.

So we went to Hobart prepared for really cold weather.  Good grief.  The temperature hit 32 degrees Celsius the first day we were there.  I nearly died of heat stroke.

At the Hobart Airport - managed to snap a quick shot of this Virgin plane.

Took this pic from the shuttle bus en route to the hotel.

Hobart’s Post Office

Qantas served this yummy Kellog cereal in this same packaging on the plane for breakfast.  First time i saw this sort of "cereal on the go".  Just had to take a pic.  Hehe.

My mom & aunt posing on a really cool car.  The owner wasn’t quite so cool about it.

More old cars…

The harbour/pier was lovely.  I love yachts & boats & ships. 

SEE?  It was 32deg Celsius in Hobart!!!!!

Port Arthur (where the Brits dumped the convicts in Hobart).

The front of the church at Port Arthur

Loved the blue water.

I think this was the granary or something at Port Arthur.  Don’t quite remember. 

Saw this photo on my aunt’s wall.  It was taken during my grandma’s birthday!  I was only 3 years old then.  Hehe… any guesses where I am? 

Well, the temperature dropped below 10 degrees the day we left… and that’s Tasmania weather for you (or so I’m told).  It’s really a lovely place to visit… but you really need to devote more than 3 days to it!

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Ballarat / Sovereign Hill

My 6th aunt, who migrated to Australia 30 years ago, brought us to visit Ballarat, a old gold-mining town when we were there.  We also went to Sovereign Hill, an old gold mine, to er… mine for gold?

At Sovereign Hill, you can pay A$6 for a pan and a chance to "mine" for gold at this riverlet.  I refused to pay the A$6… I mean… not for tiny flecks of gold dust!!  Hehe.  My mom and my 5th uncle’s wife tried it though… and hammed it up for the camera. 

My 8th aunt had an even more practical solution - she paid A$8 and got a little container with gold flakes inside as a souvenir.  I got one as a gift from her too. 

Ballarat Town

I have an obsession with phone lines…

If you bring a chisel…

As we embark on our hunt for gold…

The Great Pretenders.

This is atop some mining structure at Sovereign Hill.

A shop selling quaint old table-cloths.

Living conditions of the miners.  The Caucasian version.

Chinese miners’ living quarters.  Glad to know not all early Aussie migrants were convicts.

St Kilda

My 6th aunt (aka my Australian aunt) took us to Melbourne city centre to visit the Casino ‘cos my cousin works there.  I was bored to death ‘cos I don’t gamble.  Don’t know how… and am just not interested enough to learn.  Hey, even mahjong doesn’t interest me!  :P  That’s probably the most atypical Cantonese trait of mine.. heh. 

St Kilda was really lovely.  We had a leisurely lunch at one of the sea-facing restaurants, walked along the beach-side stalls, and had tea at an Italian-styled cafe.  Really wonderful touristy area.  Worth visiting!

Melbourne city centre.

A clock tower at St Kilda

My mom wearing her newly bought hat.

Good thing we had nice sunny weather that day!

There were many pretty paintings for sale but I thought they were a little over-priced.

I griped quite a bit about the poor photo-taking skills of the people I was with.  This is evidence of it - why the heck does it look as though my mom and I ar
e being chomped on by the monster?!

The strawberry meringue was deliciously sweet and yummy.  My cousin’s choice of blueberry cake was er… nicer to behold than to ingest.

I thought this painting inside the cake shop was very cute.

This is how St Kilda is like… tons of cafes to help you grow fat.

Saw this sign at Melbourne city centre when we were going back to my aunt’s place.  I just HAD to take a photo of it. 

Didn’t really get to spend much time in Melbourne due to time constraints.  We did visit Philip Island but you’re not allowed to take photos of the little penguins so too bad…

Part 3 - Hobart pics, will be coming up real soon! 

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Well, decided not to post the notes I wrote about Australia here.  Frankly, Australia didn’t leave that deep an impression on me.  I enjoyed myself thoroughly, as anyone would have while on holiday.  But while Australia is an above average country on many fronts, it didn’t have a fascinating enough history to enchant me, nor amazing architecture to stun, nor beautiful scenery to take my breath away. 

Here’re some of the pictures I took.  To sum it up, the best part about Australia was the company I was with.  (Wait till you hear my stories about my 8th aunt…).  Anyway, just to clear the backlog of content that I need to put here… I’ll just let the pictures tell the story.

Part 1: The Wedding

The wedding venue.

My mom & I.

The sweetest (pun intended) wedding favours!

Everyone had a good time on the dance floor.

Sober or drunk…

They had a good time…

It was a lovely wedding.

Will post Part 2 another day.  Sleepy…

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Sigh.. time passes too fast… and too often things lie just beyond our grasp when we decide to reach for them.  So thank God for photos that we can at least relive the memory…

If only just the memory.

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It was VERY TEDIOUS… took me a few hours to upload, sort and put in the captions.  So u must forgive the uncreative captions.  Proudly presenting… my HK photos!  (Picked from 773 shots from my digicam, 153 shots using my hp, and a few cute shots from Iceman’s digicam!)

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For the sake of good order, i decided to include a list of must-see, must-eat places in this post.  So that next time when i visit HK again, i’ll be able to find this precious list of things to do in HK. 

FOOD

Wonder why this ranks top of my list…

1. Che’s Restaurant (Wanchai MTR, The Broadway 4/F) - selection isn’t wide but the standard of dimsum is one of the best u’ll ever find!  Must trys are the egg tart, fried char siew pau (the mix of the creamy & salty butter versus the sweet & succulent char siew… oohlala!)
2. Kam Moon Kok Restaurant (Jordan MTR, opposite BP International House) - true blue HK 茶餐厅.  After u’ve had the real thing, places like Hongkong Cafe in Singapore sucks big time man!  The must trys here are the western toast (french toast with peanut butter inside!!), spicy pork cubes noodles (the wu xiang rou ding mian), and the beef brisket soup noodles.  Never tasted such delicious spicy pork cubes & lean beef brisket before!
3. Traditional Noodle House (TST area) - the ma la mian there is good.  Wide variety of noodles at cheap prices!
4. Maxim (Mei Xin) Dimsum (Cityhall) - Very good selection of dimsum… some dishes were better than the others but it’s a must try!  I also lurrrve their mooncakes.  Always buy at least 2 boxes back.  Check out http://www.mei-xin.com.hk/

SHOPPING

1. Island Beverly (Causeway Bay MTR) - 4 floors of cool evening dresses, funky fashion, cool accessories, jewellery, etc.
2. Tsim Sha Tsui (TST MTR to Jordan MTR) - shop along the entire Nathan Road and check out all the little streets branching out from it!
3. Parklane Shopping Centre (TST MTR) - Esprit, G2000, Geox, Bossini, Adidas.
4. Times Square (Causeway Bay MTR) - 13 floors of shops and food.  Really cute items too!  (Like the animal TVs, banana protective case in the slideshow above.  Hehe).
5. H&M (Queen’s Central Road, Central MTR) - really cheap clothes.  Love the jeans, suits & accessories!
6. Citygate Mall (Tung Chung MTR) - Lots of factory outlets (Adidas, Nike, Bodyshop, Esprit, etc)… but the prices are not necessarily cheaper…
7. SOGO (Causeway Bay MTR) - right next to Island Beverly.  This place is packed ALL THE TIME!  Rain or shine, weekday or weekend.  The locals (and tourists) love it!
8. Esprit Factory Outlet (Kam Sang Commercial Centre, near or on Hankow Road, Central MTR)
9. Tons more lah… but these were the places i went during this trip.. and the first 5 are my favourite haunts. 

SIGHTSEEING

1. Stanley (take bus 66, 6A, 6X, 260 from the bus terminus at Central MTR) - beachy place, very relaxing, great for photo taking.
2. The Peak (take a tram from the Lower Peak Tram Station, which is a 10 min walk from Central MTR) - I’ve always known the Peak as “Victoria Peak”.  But on my latest trip to HK, i realised it’s no longer referred to as “Victoria Peak” but just “The Peak”.  The night view is great… but i got the chance to go to the Peak during the day this time and the cool weather makes it a wonderful place for walks and treks.
3. Lantau Island (take MTR to Tung Chung MTR & take a bus from there.  Forgot what bus no.!  Sorry!) -  A lot of nice outdoorsy area to explore.  I wouldn’t recommend Disneyland… but do check out the Big Buddha and Tai-O (i didn’t get to go this trip… but i will on my next!).
4. Avenue of the Stars (TST MTR) - pure touristy place. 
5. There’re a couple of other islands that i want to visit… slowly… heh. 
6. U can also take a 1-hr ride by jetfoil to Macau from Shun Tak Centre.  For more details, check out http://www.turbojet.com.hk/index.htm.

OK… that’s what i recall from memory so far.  Think i shall keep my map safely in my drawer… though it’s quite tattered now.  Haha.  Tatteren and torn… but hey, all the above treasures are marked out on it man! 

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Finally got down to doing my claims for my Manila trip today.  The hotel was expensive man… S$1400+ for a 4-night stay.  But oh well… it’s on company’s expense.  Heh.  Doesn’t matter.  Haha.  I enjoyed the room.  The secretary told me that the reason why the room rates were so expensive was ‘cos the single rooms were all fully booked and hence i was booked on the deluxe room.  Muahaha. 

Here are some pics:

My room on the first night.  Really huge with 2 super single beds (i think - the beds were just slightly smaller than queen beds!).  Also had a couch and a spacious study desk. 

Patience loved the bed.  Konked out immediately upon arrival.

The bathroom was impressive - large with separate bath & shower areas.  There was even this magnifying mirror with an attached light!

This was the mini-bar area.  Impressive huh?

Shifted to a slightly smaller room with a huge (at least) king size bed the 2nd night ‘cos i was on a smoking floor the first night.  Nonetheless, no complaints! 

The excellent level of room service - i dumped my toiletries on the counter top and when the chambermaid/ chamberguy cleaned my room, my things were arranged nicely on a linen hanky!

Night view from my room - facing Glorietta 3 (1 of the many shopping malls in the vicinity).

Same view but during the day.

Had dinner at some fancy Italian restaurant 1 night.  This soup was served with the ingredients (lobster, clam and can’t remember what else) on the plate dry… then the soup poured in!  Interesting!  Heh.

“The Fort” - another Ayala land development that reminds me of Clarke Quay.

The Filipino version of pisang goreng - with icecream too!

My fave restaurant - Via Mare Oyster Bar at Greenbelt 4!  *Slurp*

I had 10 baked oysters with San Miguel Light and…

8 raw oysters with gin tonic on my last night in Makati.  The waiter eyed me curiously… and finally couldn’t suppress his curiousity and asked where i was from.  Haha.  All Filipinos i met claimed they’re big eaters.  They’ve not seen a real big eater man…

Still had strong craving for the oysters so i went back to the Oyster Bar for 8 more raw oysters and a cheesy onion soup (the best i’ve ever tried!) before i went to the airport to catch my flight back to Singapore.

I love Makati City, Manila! 

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Back from Melaka!  Had a fantastic & very fulfilling (for the stomach) trip.  The last time i went to Melaka was almost 20 years ago… when i was in primary school.  Heh… like what my boss said, nothing has changed much… and oooh… i really love the quaint little town.

I stayed in Hotel Puri, which is near Jonker Street.  Really nice place.  We didn’t do any deep or inspirational sort of activity… it was a pure chill out, & fill out your stomach kind of trip.  Our routine basically was, eat, walk, eat, sleep, eat, walk, eat, sleep. 

We had copious amounts of food … i haven’t weighed myself on the weighing machine yet… haha… let’s see… started off with a communal nasi lemak, breakfast beehoon + sausage + fish balls, and ramly burger at the first rest stop after we cleared the Tuas customs.  Er, don’t ask me for the name.  I’ve never been good with names.

After breakfast, we drove all the way to Melaka.  Minute we reached, we dumped our bags & went out for lunch.  Had laksa & chendol… hehe… i had like 2 bowls of chendol… hiak hiak… with lots of extra thick gooey gula melaka poured on top. 

After lunch, we went to some shopping centre (once again, i don’t remember the name) to shop… walked around for about 1.5hrs, and adjourned to Starbucks for a caffeine pick-me-up.  We then split up to walk around some more, before we all trekked like 1km just to try what someone proclaimed the “best youtiao in the world”.  It was good lah… but… 1km just for youtiao!?  *Faints*.

Dinner was at the pasar malam along Jonker St… a good variety of hawker food (dimsum, stingray, char kway teow, or-luak - the fried oyster thingy, etc).  Watched a very entertaining “finger breaking coconut” show after that… and of ‘cos what else could follow except more food?  Hiak hiak.  I remember the name of the place this time - Geographer’s cafe - we went there for drinks, ended up feeling hungry, and had finger food.  Heh.

This morning, we once again started the day with a good breakfast buffet at the hotel.  (It’s the most important meal of the day u know!)  Then it was off to breakfast part 2 - dimsum!!  Haha… after dimsum, we went back for the fantastic chendol (I am proud to say that i ate the most chendol this trip!  3 bowls!  Muahaha!), before heading back to the hotel to rest/ relax/ sleep/ watch tv.  Lunch was at this oh-so-excellent teochew restaurant with a super long name.  Had or-mee (oyster + noodles cooked in delicious dark sauce), deep-fried soft-shell crabs, veggie with clams, superbly fresh steamed fish, duck, suckling pig, bittergourd with pork ribs (i didn’t try this… me no like bitter stuff!) and rounded everything up with or-nee (yam paste dessert).  WOOHOO!  Everyone voted that the best meal of the trip!

Ok… time to do a weight check… and will go get my digicam & hp to upload some photos i took. 

Brb!

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Here’re some random photos i took.

Jonker Dessert Cafe - where we had the laksa & FANTASTIC gula melaka laden chendol!

See the container?  That’s the gooey gula melaka u can pour over your chendol! Woohoo!  *Sugar high*

Hotel Puri - entrance to hotel lobby

Airwell in hotel - i just love these old shophouses!

Passageway leading to the rooms

Geographer’s Cafe - fantastic chill out place!

Upper floor of Geographer’s Cafe

All yours for only RM2300!

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Stylo shot of some old building and backview of my friends.  Haha.

Lots of clogs for sale!

Vintage Ford Taurus (i think)

Old records for sale

Melaka’s version of the tri-shaw.  All dressed up.

Liked the ships on the canvas blinds.  Just thought this made a nice postcard shot.

The Teochew restaurant we had our lunch.  FANTASTIC!  *Slurp*

Sigh.. weight check result - 45.6kg.  Gained 0.6kg in 2 days?!  It’s just water… chendol is made of ice, ice is water… just water…

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