Seoul searching

I'm back from my week-long trip to Seoul! The last time I was there was eons ago with my parents on a packaged tour, which I could not remember much of, so I was really looking forward to visiting Seoul again on my own. Well, not alone, but with a bunch of good friends this time!

As Cathay Pacific was having a promotion, we snagged return tickets at only S$580 per pax. The catch was that it included a stop-over in HK, which meant that we got into Seoul in the wee hours of the morning without much sleep. When we arrived, we dropped off our luggage at Hotel The Sunbee, a small establishment smack in the heart of Insadong, a traditional street in Seoul. I would highly recommend this hotel, as the location was fantastic and the hotel was good value for money.

As we were all tired from our flight, we decided to have a leisurely morning at the Changdeokgung palace, a UNESCO world heritage site, which was a short walk from our hotel. If one wishes to visit the Secret Garden at the rear of the palace, one had to purchase a separate ticket and join a walking tour, which we did.

Changdeokgung palace

Secret Garden with its magnificent hues of yellow, orange and red.

We spent the next few days visiting the various districts in Seoul - Insadong, Myeongdong, Dongdaemun, Nandaemun, Ewha university area, Hongdae, Apgujeong and Samcheongdong. My favourites are Myeongdong, Nandaemun, Hongdae and Samcheongdong. Dongdaemun, with its sprawling buildings of shopping malls, was somewhat a let-down. Our experience was worsened after we unknowingly took a black taxi back to our hotel after midnight and had to pay a staggering sum for the ride. Tip: 1. Never, ever take a black taxi 2. Always take a cab back to your hotel before midnight. The cabbies do not use the meter after midnight and quote a price 6 times more than the regular metered rates 3. If you really have to, take the regular taxi and pay 6 times the usual price instead of taking a black taxi.

Samcheongdong - Quaint, quiet and pretty - I fell in love with the quirky coffee joints lining the sidewalks and enjoyed exploring the sloping alleys of the Bukchon Hanok village behind Samcheongdong. We hung out in a cafe, bought dresses from a small boutique and snapped photos of ourselves against a picturesque wall.

Myeongdong and Cheonggye stream  - I loved Myeongdong for its vibrancy and liveliness, where shopping and food can be found in abundance. We were there at night mostly, as the shops close late. We also caught the Nanta Cooking show (highly recommended) at the UNESCO building.

Nandaemun market - Shopping heaven! Treasure trove!

Ewha university area and Hongdae flea market - Personally, I found shopping near the Ewha university a delight as the prices were lower as compared to other places. Hongdae was edgy and funky, with its graffiti-clad walls and flea market. 

And last but not least, the glorious food of Seoul

We left Seoul just as the weather started to turn very cold. Despite the biting winds, Seoul has warmed my heart and soul. If I had to choose a 3rd home after Malaysia and Singapore, it'll have to be Seoul. If I had a chance to work in Seoul, I'll take it up in a heartbeat. Meanwhile, I can only hope that my next trip there will not be too far away.

The Saga Continues

So a couple of friends who read my previous entry have requested an update on how the saga of the bizarre love triangle is developing. Prompted by this collective interest, I just had to go snooping around a bit more. And lo and behold, there are new developments!

Ms A posted on her blog today a series of intimate photos between her and AB. From the photos, it looks like AB is reciprocating.

AB also changed his Facebook status from being "In a Relationship with Ms C" to "It's Complicated".

There are no updates on Ms C's blog.

From the above observations, Ms A seems to be enjoying the upper hand now and getting her way with AB. I still maintain my stand that the scummiest of them all is AB who is obviously enjoying his position on the love pedestal. Knock him down, gals!

Bizarre love triangle

I spend an inordinate amount of time on the Internet. I check my emails and Facebook too often, research on my upcoming travels, and one other (shameful) thing that I do is spy on people via their blogs. These "people" refer to friends, celebrities and yes, strangers! Some of my friends would know that I've been following the blogs of 3 teenage girls who are best buddies. I don't know why I read their blogs really, maybe because they are young and gorgeous? Or maybe I am living vicariously through their partying and clubbing lives? Or maybe they personify what I would have liked to be but wasn't at that age - carefree, taking risks, falling in and out of love, having tattooed ah-beng/ah-lian friends, etc etc. Reading their blogs certainly make me feel like a Ms Goody-Two-Shoes.

So anyway, there is a mini saga going on with one of the gals now- let's call her Ms A. Ms A was seeing this ah-beng (AB) and recently they broke up and AB seemed to have moved on with a new gal Ms C. On her blog, Ms A professes her love for AB and proclaims that she will not give him up and they are working things out. Which is alright cause there are loads of pictures on her blog of her and AB and it sure looks like they are on the road to recovery. "Fans" of Ms A leave comments lambasting Ms C. Haters of Ms A call her a slut for being all touchy-feely with AB when he is already going out with Ms C, to which she responds that he is not going out with anyone.

My curiosity was piqued. Is AB two-timing Ms A and Ms C? Is Ms A in denial? So with my special investigative powers, I tracked down AB and Ms C on Facebook and her blog.

On AB's facebook, he is "in a relationship with Ms C".

On Ms C's blog, you will see plenty of pictures of him and Ms C. They look and sound like they're together and in love. Ms C likewise proclaims her love for AB and says she will not give him up. Though not explicit, she hints that she is not affected by what's going on.

Saucy, isn't it? I'm deducing that Ms A is in self-denial and clinging on to a lost love. And AB is shamelessly lapping up the attention from 2 very pretty girls. Though he is together with Ms C, he is not pushing away the advances from his ex, Ms A, possibly on the pretext that he still regards her as his friend. Which may be his justification to Ms C for still hanging out with Ms A. Only boys are capable of such bullshit, in my humble opinion.

I shall wait and see how this saga unfolds. Let's hope there are no casualties from this love triangle, though I doubt so!

2nd BKK trip this year

Bangkok is becoming my favourite place to visit on a recurring basis. Which is rather surprising in my case because I've always held the notion that it makes more sense to go someplace you've never been and experience something different, rather than visit the same place over and over again.

For me, the main draw that Bangkok holds has got to be the excellent Thai hospitality and reasonaly priced shopping, food and massages! It all makes perfect sense - go shopping till you're dead tired, treat yourself to some delicious Thai cuisine and an oil massage to ease out the tension and knots. Guaranteed to also make you sleep like a baby at night.

This time, I went with my old pals - the Vongs and Ms To. We were really lucky to be greeted by sunny, good weather the entire duration, as the weather forecast predicted showers and thunderstorms and there was a danger of the Chao Phraya river overflowing and causing floods in BKK. Thank goodness none of these happened while we were there.

Few pics this time...enjoy!

Us at the tailors.

The skillful teh tarik guy at Chatuchak.

Choco bananas that look kinda grosse.

Nara restaurant @ 8 Thonglor. Love the decor and ambience.

Food however, was just average. The best dishes were the hors d'œuvre platter and crackling pork papaya salad.

Somerset Suanplu.

1st day of freedom

Yesterday marked my last day with my firm xxx. It was a busy day for me, running to and fro saying my goodbyes and delivering farewell gifts. People asked if I felt happy, and the answer was an unequivocal yes! On reflection, the past 3.5 years at xxx have been filled with highs and lows, happys and sads, joy and gloom for me. There isn't a single particular reason as to why I'm leaving, but a combination of frustrations and discontentment at various issues that have bugged me over these years. I'm certainly glad to leave of all these behind, and take my well-deserved break!

xoxo

First thing I did last night was to turn off that dreaded alarm clock. Woke up at 11am this morning feeling liberated, perky and looking forward to the day! Not that I had anything in particular to look forward to - my living room was strewn with bags and bags of my belongings from the office. So after a healthy brunch of oats and cheese (bad combination, btw), I set to clearing the mess to restore my living area to its former uncluttered state. I've just accomplished that and feeling really good about myself.

Maybe one day I'll feel bored with having no work to do, or fret about having no pay to spend... but for now, I will savour all the freedom and luxury of time I have, pitter-patter around my new home and eagerly count the days till my holidays come up! Bangkok, Seoul, Stockholm, Reykjavik, London & Paris over 2 months, woot!

Kind words from an old acquaintance

Bumped into the Malay uncle who used to be a security guard at my condo this morning at Raffles Place. We chatted briefly and his parting words to me were "you're fat" while gesticulating a fat stomach to prove his point. I did not see that coming at all.

Good start to the week. Bummer.

Resolution for jobless days: Hard core exercise to lose flab.

Penang

I was in Penang over the weekend in search of the holy grail of Penang's most famous food! Yes, everyone knows that good food is aplenty in this tiny island along the west coast of Malaysia! We stayed at Cititel hotel on Jalan Penang - the location cannot be beat. We were smack in the heart of Georgetown within walking distance to all the artery-choking food and historical sights within Georgetown. The hotel itself is no-frills but decent, and considering the price we paid (RM135 per room per night), it was a pretty good bargain.

My usual travel suspects. Can I say I just love travelling with these gals, especially on such food trips as they have an enormous appetite (even the skinny ones) and are keen to try almost everything? We were relentless in our pursuit of the most famous Char Koey Teow (CKT), Hokkien mee, Assam laksa, Roti Canai, Nasi Kandar, etc stalls. We egged one another on to eat more, eventhough on countless occasions, we were already bursting at the seams!

Food pics. From top left corner, clockwise: Baked crab & cheese baked fresh oysters from Fishing Village Restaurant (Teluk Bahang), assam laksa & durian ice cream from Kek Sen kopitiam, chendol stall from an alley off Jalan Penang and various preserved fruits from a random shop along Jalan Penang. These are by no means the best food in Penang but rather, the only food pics I have in my cam (I'm usually too busy tucking in, lol). I'll try to do a food critique once I get hold of the other pics from G's cam.

Georgetown is a designated UNESCO world heritage site. R and I agreed that we liked the old town of Hoi An (also a UNESCO site) better. However, Georgetown did have its old-school retro charm as well. I loved the old colonial style buildings, some of which have been left to "age" rather than fully restored to their former glory. The colours were amazing, bright hues of yellows, reds, greens, blues! They were all unique in their own right and yet, put together, a lovely sight to behold.

Besides Georgetown, there are other attractions within Penang to occupy your time. These pics were taken at the Kek Lok Si temple near Air Itam. It is definitely one of the largest and loveliest temple I've been to! I remember daddy wanting to take us there on one of our family trips a long time ago but no one wanted to go then? Oopsy...

After a visit to the temple, I highly recommend walking down the hill to indulge in possibly the best assam laksa in Penang at a roadside stall. There is a big cauldron of brew that looks like it's been bubbling for many many days! Not the most hygienic place to be eating, but if you can ignore the laksa crusted pot and slight drain stench, then this is definitely worth trying. On a positive note, the laksa meal did not give any of us the runs :)

Despite being a bustling city, we managed to find some nature and quiet moments atop Penang Hill. However, the journey up the hill via 4WD was a rather expensive one and not worth the $$ in my opinion. We wandered around a little and had (bad) coffee and hot choc at the David Brown cafe. The cafe itself was very pretty though.

From top left, clockwise: Giant hibiscus at Kek Lok Si temple, water lilies & hydrangeas at David Brown garden (Penang Hill), sunset along Gurney drive, boats at the Chew clan jetty (Georgetown), and an armpit-scratching monkey in the Botanic Garden at the foot of Penang Hill.

Needless to say, I am back with a tubby stomach and an even rounder face, which I am resolved to lose! Any diet plan to recommend?

Marmite wings

Look! I made these golden wings!

They were really succulent and tasty! Little bro gave it a 8.2/10. Not bad for my first attempt!

And here's the recipe, which I saved from last week's Sunday Times, complete with my comments in brackets :)

INGREDIENTS
12 chicken wings
2 Tbs sesame oil
2 Tbs Marmite or Bovril
3 Tbs oyster sauce
3 Tbs honey
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

METHOD
1. Wash the chicken wings under running water, pat dry with paper towels. Using a sharp knife or kitchen sheares, cut the wings into three parts: drummette, flat (middle part of the wing) and wing tip. Save the wing tips for making chicken stock. Place the drummettes and flats in a resealable plastic bag. (I cheated by buying mid joints from Cold Storage - about $5.50 for 10 pcs, hence no chopping required.)

2. Mix the other ingredients thoroughly in a glass jar or bowl. Pour the marinade into the bag, making sure every piece of chicken is coated. Press all the air out of the bag, seal and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight. (I did not have sesame oil and substituted with olive oil but I think sesame oil would have been perfect!)

3. Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Line a baking tray with baking paper or aluminium foil and place a metal rack over it.

4. Scrape as much of the marinade off the chicken as possible - a teaspoon is useful here (the marinade was quite watery so I didn't have to scrape) - and place the pieces on the rack. Set aside until the oven is at the right temperature. (It took about 5 min.)

5. Bake the wings for 18 to 22 minutes (depending on the size). They should be a deep brown but not burnt. If doing in 2 batches, do a tray of all drummettes (they will take 20 to 22 minutes), then a tray of all flats (they will take 18 to 20 minutes). Let cool 5 minutes before serving. (I ate 1 pc within 3 minutes.)

Serve four as a snack.

New blog pic

The girls were updating their blog with the latest designer templates, which made me want to change mine too. After perusing the new templates, none seemed to catch my eye. So I fiddled with some past travel photos with Photoshop, made a collage with Picasa and viola! I've got my own original blog picture!

I love how retro it looks. The photos were handpicked by none other than the traveller herself! From top left, clockwise - A quaint cafe selling (yes you got it right) sandwiches in Delphi, Greece; lovers' locks in Mala Strana, Prague; a bicycle leaning against an old shed in Yangon, Myanmar; and pretty boats afloat in Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan.

All of these trips bring back fond memories for me. Ahhhh I am feeling so sentimental but it's getting late and I need to catch my beauty sleep now. Good night! :)

The time has come

After months and months of thinking, pondering, considering, contemplating, I have done it! Yes that's right. I handed over that sacred letter this morning.

The only feeling that washed over me after the deed was done was RELIEF. It felt like a load had been lifted off my weary back and my heart no longer felt heavy. Was it the right choice? I can't even answer this question anymore - all that reasoning and "thinking through things" have blurred the lines, clouded my judgement and confounded me. At the end of the day, I was guided by my heart and not my head - it felt good so the decision must be a right one.

The whole process of handing over that letter was surreal. I could not control my thoughts, lost all sense of reasoning and everything seemed to just happen, like in a dream. Now that the events of the day have sunk in, I am feeling cheery and uncharacteristically optimistic. Life is good, afterall!

2 months - let the countdown begin!

Cross-processed

Always my favourite photo effect, they never fail to evoke feelings of nostalgia and old-world retro charm. And they're so easy to manipulate on PS! If only I'd started experimenting earlier, then I wouldn't have wasted all that money on lomo cams and applications!

Guinea pig

My attempt at airbrushing. Took quite long to learn this as there are so many different ways to airbrush, from the straightforward to the very complicated. In all of the modified photos, I used the healing brush and clone stamp to remove blemishes and moles, fade away dark eye circles and even out the skin tone.

Here's Exhibit Y before going under the photoshop knife, mole still intact.

First attempt (and also most complicated), which required me to apply surface blur, add noise, then gaussian blur. I also had to adjust the hue & saturation levels twice and do a paintjob on the mask. The effect - perfect complexion on slightly pasty-looking skin. I suspect that the colour is a bit off because most of the tutorials used ang moh models who are naturally fair.

This process was slightly simpler than the first. It involved using the dust & scratches filter, followed by Gaussian blur, add noise and adjust hue & saturation. The effect - similar to the first but less perfect skin (and perhaps more believable).

Perhaps the simplest process of all, I only had to use the surface blur and do a reverse paintjob. The effect - similar to the 2nd pic but the face colour looks more natural?

Photoshop and me

I had a sudden interest to explore my Photoshop (PS) application, which had been installed in my laptop eons ago but hardly used. I must admit that I was daunted, as the entire programme, with its many functions and tools, looked way too complicated. However, something prompted me to take up this challenge, and boy am I enjoying the learning process. Being the tech dummy that I am, my learning curve is an extremely steep one, but I'm thankful for the millions of tutorials out there which have certainly made my life easier.

These are some of my works so far.

Fiddling with the liquify function allowed me to make my face and nose sharper, remove wrinkles around the neck and erase all zit marks on my face. If you look close enough, even the mole near my right armpit is gone! I'm not terribly pleased with the results, as the changes are hardly noticeable and my face and features seem disproportionate. Instead of a round face, I now have a horse face?!

Another example of my friend K. For me, the main point is to enhance the features of a person rather than transform his/her look totally. As commenting on a friend is a sensitive issue, I'll leave you to figure out the "enhancements" made.

I gave the picture of Pik, Guak and me an overprocessed look, just like what a lomo cam would produce. I kinda like the effects! :)

More to come!

Sick as a dog

Sums up my current condition. For the past 1-2 weeks, I've been having dizzy spells in my sleeping and waking moments. I felt the whole room spinning around violently, and there were fleeting moments when I thought I was going bonkers or blind! Little bro diagnosed my condition as BPPV - Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, caused by problems in the inner ear.

Before I've even fully recovered from BPPV, I was attacked by a hacking cough that has been keeping me awake for the past 3 nights. The condition is exacerbated by a stuffy nose which now makes it impossible for me to taste my food. Not that I have much of an appetite anyway, the cough makes me feel like throwing up half the time.

After a trip to the office to clear some urgent work, I went home and crashed on my bed. Never felt so tired, awful and sickly! Dear P cooked some yummy porridge the night before - check it out.

On a sidenote, ever wondered why the expression "sick as a dog" is used? Why not sick as a rabbit or sick as a zebra? Apparently, dogs had negative connotations attached to them in the past...

There are several expressions of the form sick as a ..., that date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Sick as a dog is actually the oldest of them, recorded from 1705; it is probably no more than an attempt to give force to a strongly worded statement of physical unhappiness. It was attached to a dog, I would guess, because dogs often seem to have been linked to things considered unpleasant or undesirable; down the years they have had an incredibly bad press, linguistically speaking (think of dog tired, dog in the manger, dog’s breakfast, go to the dogs, dog Latin — big dictionaries have long entries about all the ways that dog has been used in a negative sense).

At various times cats, rats and horses have been also dragged in to the expression, though an odd thing is that horses can’t vomit; one nineteenth-century writer did suggest that this version was used “when a person is exceedingly sick without vomiting”. The strangest member of the set was used by Jonathan Swift in 1731: “Poor Miss, she’s sick as a Cushion, she wants nothing but stuffing” (stop laughing at the back).

The modern sick as a parrot recorded from the 1970s — at one time much overused by British sportsmen as the opposite of over the moon — refers to a state of deep mental depression rather than physical illness; this perhaps comes from instances of parrots contracting psittacosis and passing it to their human owners.

Source: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sic1.htm.

Boomerang

The girls were so sweet to celebrate my belated birthday over Sunday brunch at Boomerang, Robertson Quay. Initially, the plan was to go to Epicurious but a long queue had already formed when we got there, and truth be told, we found the chill factor missing. So we headed over to the Aussie-run Boomerang instead, which was a stark contrast to Epicurious in terms of their clientele. Over at Epicurious, we saw lots of locals but at Boomerang, the crowd was predominantly ang mohs. In Lei's words, "it didn't feel like Singapore".

I liked the ambience at Boomerang. It was stylish yet casual - great place for friends to catch up over some brunch and wine. What I didn't like, however, was the obvious superior service rendered by the predominantly Filipino waitresses to their preferred clientele, the AMs. We sat there for a good 10 minutes with no one bothering to hand us a menu. In strolls Jamie Ong (she is so gorgeous) and AM friends, and they were served iced water and given the menu pronto.

Food wise, nothing to boast about. The Wagyu burger was dry and not that tasty.

The Aussie breakfast plate (I forget its name now) was pretty good, I loved the thick beef sausage and you can never go wrong with bacon!

But the best item had to be the thick, spongy pancakes that were so so yummy!

Despite the mediocre service and average food, nothing could dampen our spirits on a cool, breezy Sunday!

xoxo

Honest juice from Cold Storage, Taka. The labels are so nice, makes me feel like trying them all!

Seriously creamy ice cream, also from Cold Storage, Taka.

2010 BKK

I'm back from BKK! This time, with the same bunch minus piggy plus P and Steffi! Different group but just as fun as ever! We were really glad that we got to go, as it hadn't been too long since the red shirts protests, and we were worried that the riots may start again during the Thailand by-election. The trip was on tenterhooks right up to the last minute, and boy am I glad that we made it there and back safely!

The new BKK gang

Due to time constraints, we focused our energies on shopping, massage and eating (just like our last trip). Once again, I was impressed with the service at Healthland spa. On Day 1, I did a full body aromatherapy massage and on day 2, a therapeutic massage that focused on the neck and shoulders (due to my stiff neck problem). Both were excellent and the knots on my shoulders are now somewhat loosened...which may have contributed to my deep slumber for the past few nights.

We stayed at the Ascott Sathorn, which was located right opposite Healthland. As there were 5 of us, we booked a 3 bedroom unit. Seriously, the apartment was HUGE - we could easily hold a party for 20 there! The bedrooms and bathrooms were all immaculately furnished. Our unit on the 18th floor commanded a view of the busy streets of BKK. I would definitely stay here again the next time I visit!

The spacious hotel lobby with high ceiling

Views from our 18th floor apartment


We shopped at the usual places - Platinum for cheap wholesale clothes and Chatuchak (CTC) market for everything else. I managed to snag some dresses from Platinum, and cheap tees and singlets from CTC. No homeware this time as there just wasn't enough time to browse through the entire complex at both places! We also visited the posh Emporium at Sukhumvit to shop for groceries and people watch (I think this is where the rich and good-looking hang out). And MBK where we spent most of our time (and lotsa money) at Boots the pharmacy stocking up on handcreams, body lotions, lip balm, skincare, etc. They were giving away 250 Baht voucher for every 500 Baht spend, so it was damn worth it!

Outside Platinum waiting for a taxi

We had our meals at the usual places - Platinum food court for Thai fare, Chinatown for seafood and this new place for yummy grilled meat:

Sushicyu BBQ Carnival yakiniku @ Eight Thonglor

Yakiniku is extremely pricey in Singapore. If you've been to either Gyu-kaku or Yakiniku Daidomon in SG, you'd know that a delicious meal of grilled meat can set you back by about S$100. Sushicyu was actually a recommendation by J's friend so we decided to try it out. Service was attentive and the meats were really good. Best of all, you can count on paying only a fraction of the price here! A word of advice, go for the ala carte items rather than the set items, as they are more value for money. We paid about S$40 per pax but it could have been a lot cheaper if we had gone ala carte!

We love grilled meat!

Fresh seafood @ Chinatown. According to Jason, this fresh catch cost only S$8!

The must-tries for my next BKK trip - Nara restaurant with its eclectic decor (also at Eight Thonglor) and China House for dim sum brunch @ Mandarin Oriental hotel.

Last but not least, a visit to the flower market for Mr J to stock up on his goods. Love the pics taken here as they are so colourful and cheery :)