Taipei

Taipei with the girls was really fun. Since I'm nursing a wicked hangover from my brilliant idea of Thursday happy hour, I have decided to put my time to good use and blog about our trip.

I think the general summary of the trip was

1) Taipei people think Singaporean girls are ugly. No shit. We were taken for Hongkongers like maybe ten times on the trip, and everytime we corrected them, they look at us in awe and doubt and said that we don't look like typical Singaporeans.

2) We had such an ego trip the whole trip! People were praising us left right center. Ariane got mistaken for a model, I got feedback that I look like Jolin Tsai (which, used to happen pretty frequently in my teen years, but it seems to resurface after like ten years again recently because I got the same comment from random people at Five yday night too). 

3) The clubs were kinda blah, but the people were interesting. Way less reticent than typical Singaporeans, more spontaneous, so we ended up having a lot of fun.

4) The food was good, but not as great as I remember from four years ago. Ultimately, it's still the local street food that got the best food vote.

5) Barcode drinks are still awesome. I had this lavender vanilla vodka cocktail with egg white. Tasted like heaven. Followed by a spiced orange and rose cocktail with egg white. Love!

 Luyi and I enjoying our drinks at Barcode. Yum!

 One of our rooms at AMBA ximending. Pretty good although our room smelled a little funky.

 The new Shilin market! :D

 Getting ready for our first night out. Everyone looks perky despite the fact that the three of them have been awake since 11pm the night before.

 Our first shot. Which was weak, btw.

 After a few more shots, the drunken shots comes naturally....

 At the ex presidential flower gardens.

 On top of Yangmingshan. Our driver for the day took us to this calla lily farm in the middle of a valley. So breathtaking! My fav flower... :)

 They were selling like 12 stalks for 5 bucks! So cheap! Too bad I couldn't buy any. They look so perfect!

 The kampong chicken on top of Yangmingshan, and the wild vegetables. So good!

 We went to this organic 10 course dinner meal place at Xindian province, called da shan wu jia. It was very healthy, could use more salt, but in general a memorable meal.

 My fourth serving of stinky tofu. Yum!

 I was the only one wearing the silly frames we bought the night before.

Went back to the same club after hopping around the last night. Good times!

The pursuit of happiness.

Most people ( I myself am as guilty) take for granted all the things that make them happy, and keep yearning and hoping for things that they think will make them happy. As people always say, the grass is always greener on the other side. A lawyer wishes for a lighter workload and shorter working hours. A 9 to 5 worker hopes for a better pay. A stay home mum craves the excitement of work again. A working couple wishes they could have a child together. My colleague and I constantly, albeit jokingly, lament about how our past academic results would probably suit finance better. Let's face it. We, as humans, are in general a very uncontent species. Perhaps it is to gear us to push ourselves to our limits, to motivate us to get to "higher grounds", whatever it could be for every individual. This is perhaps a good thing in the long run, but I feel that as long as we are aware and thankful for all the little things that make us happy already in our life, the journey of life could be a happier one. I'm grateful for having a job with a stable income, for my loving family, my doting husband and my caring friends. Sometimes, I lose sight of all these as I try to pursue a different form of happiness, and I get unhappy in the process. But at the end of the day, what really defines happiness? I think it is the love that makes up the fullness of your heart.


Sometimes, it's not really the pursuit of happiness. It's really the realization of happiness. 

S*** my angmoh guy says

It has been quite an eye-opener for Deron, moving over here, to say the least. Now and then, I get really funny messages from him. The first few ones were super funny, but it didn't occur to me till now to record it down, so imma write it down everytime he says something funny. I guess I'm so used to living in Singapore that things that appear normal to him strikes him as weird......

 This was when he spotted some people in the park doing warm-ups and stretching in the park....

And then he decided that he was going to be a bus vigilante. He was annoyed at people claiming two seats on the bus when it was crowded, so he decided that he was going to occupy the seat next to them and force them in one seat. The first one, apparently, smelled like a chemical toilet. This was the second one just yesterday.

Hehe.

Pangaea

My first time at Pangaea, the new hip club at Marina Bay Sands last Saturday.

Expensive club! And also, I remember thinking, this is it? The area is a little small, like Filter.

The music got really good though, we were dancing the whole night, it was really nice.

All thanks to Yvonne's friend's table, we got very fueled up.

I declared that we were gonna go home around 2am, and both of them seemed a bit reluctant. In the end, we were dancing all the way out. Hehe. Good times. :)

 First up, pictures at the toilet. I dun remember how this ritual starts, but we would always start with pictures in the toilet. Hehe.

 At the club letting my hair down (literally). Hehe.

 Drunk birthday boy next to Yvonne, who's busy filling up with those heavy tumblers of high-alcohol content drinks.

 As the night went on.... I got er, more and more carefree. Ha!

 This was the last picture we took, with Torrance. I dun understand why I was the most sober of us three, and look the most drunk. Sigh.

Au revoir Pangaea. Good, but a bit small and definitely up there on the pretentious scale.

Birthday

Had my birthday last Sunday.

It's the first time in a long time I get to celebrate with my family, so I decided that birthday dinner has to be spent with my family.

We went to xian de lai, which is an individual hotpot place. I really like it. The meats are fresh and so is the seafood. And they are not expensive. My only complaint is that my tummy wasn't feeling that well, so it felt worse afterwards. Oh well.

I think that was the highlight of my birthday! Maybe I'm too used to having my birthday in Singapore, but just doesn't feel like there's much to do without planning for it. I find ourselves wandering around the mall in the afternoon, desperate to get away from the heat but not finding anything interesting to do.

Ended up watching this movie "Chronicle" which is shit. I mean, I really don't understand the infatuation with the "home-movie style" of shooting. Please, no shaking and jerking of the camera. I didn't sign up for a sea-sick experience.

The Friday and Saturday leading up to my birthday was better, in my opinion.

Went to my favorite Italian restaurant Cugini's at Ann Siang Hill for dinner with the girls. They were so sweet to pay for my dinner! And we proceeded to get shitfaced at this unknown bar with a band that was too loud, and then subsequently to Royal Room.

 Obviously the waitress wasn't hired for her awesome photography skill.

 Lifang clad in winter wear (which she regretted later when we were dancing in the crowded bar. Ha!)

 The best pasta Singapore has to offer. Al dente spaghetti tossed in olive oil and garlic and chili flakes with mullet roe. It doesn't sound that good, but it taste like heaven. My stomach is leaping in joy just looking at this dish. Man, was it good. I gobbled it up in like 3 min.

 At the bar with the deafening drums that we can't seem to get away from. Heh.

 Me drinking the Greygoose water that just tastes like water. I was harrassing the waiters all night for stronger drinks, but the increment was gradual. Oh well. We got there in the end. Ha.

The final crew who (together with Wuisiew, who joined us late) proceeded to Royal room for a fun night of dancing. Thanks girls!

 Sat lunch, Greg took me to Akashi for yummy sushi! I really think Akashi is my to go to place for decent sashimi. Way better than Sushi tei and more price friendly than Tatsuya.

 Super smooth and buttery salmon belly.

 I would put stars on this but I suck at photoshop. It's seared foie gras with uni on top. The perfect marriage of my two favorite things! Greg and I ate in silence for a minute when we had this. It was so good, we didn't want to waste it by opening our mouths and talking. Yum!

Went to Capri with Deron for my birthday dinner. It was kinda disappointing. I'll tell you why.

 The swordfish carpaccio was drenched in olive oil, too salty and slightly fishy. :(

 The crab meat linguine was quite good, but the pasta was overcooked, and the crab taste was too strong.

 Deron trying to look happy with our meal, but observe the forced smile and crossed hands. Ha.

I couldn't finish my pasta! :(

Everyone ard us went for the lobster pasta, but I feel that they are just getting it cuz it's relatively cheap for lobster. Oh well. Never going back but I was glad I tried it. :)

Good beer company! In chinatown. Woot!

Three words. Deron's favorite beershop. Those who know Deron would know how much he respects beer. So for those, I don't have to say more.

But it so happens to be my favorite beer place as well. Why is that? Well, first of all, I like it because it is different. It is so different from the generic beer places you see in Clarke Quay, with the hippy crowd. It is nestled in a hawker center. One of the biggest and oldest hawker centers in Chinatown, to boot. People who come here come here for the beer. They don't come to see and be seen. I like that. You get a mixture of people who have made the trip to discover this little gem and are happy to see like-minded souls. It's refreshing!

And of course, the beer satisfies. This place is one of the rare places that sells Stone IPAs. Now, I'm not a big fan of stone beers because their most famous brews are really hoppy, and girls just don't like hops. Well, most of us don't like hops. I still can't figure out why people, mostly guys, like it. But you have to admit that they are very decent beers. There's a reason why tourists swarm the Stone Brewery in San Diego. It's good!

And they have a really great collection of belgian beers. I HEART Belgian beers, mainly because they can kick a punch in a seemingly light beer. Belgium brewers are sooooo awesome, not just because they are monks, but also because they have master the art of making really tasty, really smooth beer that taste so refreshing but contain an alcohol content of 10-12%. It's great! People always say that beer makes you fat, but it's only because you have to drink way more to get the same buzz as wine or liquor, but with belgian beers, you can get there, guaranteed! :)

And for the girly girls who doesn't like normal beers, they have a wonderful array of ciders. Elderflower flavored, pear, raspberry. You name it, they have it, and it's delish, and refreshing, especially on a Singaporean evening.

I also like the fact that you have countless delicious food options. They have soooooooooo many stalls of good food that even on my 5th time there, I can still discover really good food that I didn't notice before. I always trust the hawker centers with a lot of old people, because that's where the good food always is.

And last, but not least, I like the feeling of overlooking the chinatown shophouses, sitting down, embracing the essence of Singapore living, with good food on the table, and cold beer in my hand. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you get a super nice breeze too.

Oh, and also, the owner is super nice. :) And he will even give you recommendations on good food around.

Going to Bali tomorrow! Will blog about it religiously when I get back. Woot! :)

Idle rantings... Bali this weekend

I really abhor the feeling of not doing anything significant. It has been over three months working, and I don't think I accomplished anything significant. People will say, it's fine, it's only three months, in the research world, it's like 3 days, but I don't even see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It's not that I'm not grateful for this job. In this economy, I'm super grateful that I don't have to go around to find a job, and I find the salary very satisfactory. It's just that I just wish I can contribute more.

Instead I find myself idling the days away, planning short trips away and vacations. Such a waste of my life.

Okay gonna stop ranting now.

Bali this weekend. I wish I have more suggestions as to where to go.