Potluck

We are having potluck tomorrow and the theme is Thai Food. Yooo Hooo....

However, we are having the potluck at my under furnished apartment......dang! Anyways, I have not decided what to cook but this is what I shortlisted so far: 1. Pad thai 2. Thai Eggplant 3. Grilled Fish 4. Beef Salad 5. Fish Cake Well, I think I am required to cook two dishes so its kinda hard choosing from this list. You will know when you see pictures.

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My washing machine broke down.....lousy machine.....I only used it 4 times but really after the repairman cam down this morning, its really our fault.

When the Best Denki guy came to install the washing machine, he did say that the drain was too high and that we should saw the drain. However, after 3 weeks of travelling, naturally, I forgot all about it especially since, the machine did fine on its first run.

Bad news, the water in the machine was not able to drain fully and thus obstructed the spinning process and I think that the machine kinda overheated and caused a sort of burnt smell comign out of my washer. Hee hee....

You can totally tell that I am a first time home owner, right? Well, we gotta fail to learn, right?

Tried the much raved (Singapore Brides forum) about Magiclean..the first time I used it, kinda not effective. Maybe cos my place has just accumulated too much dust for it. It did not pick up all my hair like I expected it to.

Anyways, I decided to give it a second try after sweeping my whole house. Its great! the head of the magiclean is so flexible that it can really sweep into tiny crevices. Really have to study how they designed it. This time, it picked up the hair although I had to move over the same a few times but at least the dust does not fly as soon as I sweep. the house felt quite clean. Can't wait to try the new wet wipes....

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To continue for my USA trip

{Times Square}

{Broadway....}

{Empire State Building}

{Night view from ESB}

{What is a trip to NY without visiting the Statue of Liberty}

Update on USA Trip

As you know, I went to USA for 3 weeks. Thank goodness I went there in July. Imagine if I had to go now, it would totally be horrible because of the extra security measures. A 24 hour trip might end up being 30 hour trip.........

2 hours of security checks for each transit..... (scary thought).

Anyways, the first two weeks were quite boring. Training in a small town, Three Rivers, Michigan. All the trainees were stuck either at the hotel or at the training grounds. The schedule was really really packed. 6:30 breakfast, 7:15 leave hotel, 5pm come back hotel, 6pm eat dinner.

My hotel room. They gave me a smoking room which smelled but they compensated with the sleep number bed. That remote control on the bed adjusts the firmness of the bed. Hahaha!

{Factory and campus for my training.}

This is the interior of the factory. I guess the owner has a sense of humour. Imagine working in such a place evryday. Cool.
{They even had a chapel and full time pastor in their plant.}

{They served us mini bagels and muffins. That is a tennis ball size ball beside it. I am a sucker for cute mini stuff. :0}

{We had dinner at one of the employees home.....he lives by the lake, how lucky is that?}

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One training weekend, we decided to visit Southhaven (a city in Michigan that overlooks the Michigan Lake). When you are in Michigan, you have to visit Lake Michigan, right?

Well, my sisters drove up to Kalamazoo (where our hotel is) and we drove down to Southhaven (1.5 hours drive). It was really cool to find a beach in central USA.

{Nope, I checked, no naked people.}

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Finally the exciting part comes.....3 days in New York City........

At the airport....what is visiting New York without some I LOVE NY merchandise. We did not end up buying it lah.

{Lexus Cab?}

{NY subway......}

{Metropolitan Arts Museum}

{Rockerfella Centre}

{DC, in front of some Versace shop, I presume....}

Eating roadside hotdog and and posing in front of a mini SOL. The hotdog cost a freaking 2 USD.

{Grand Central Terminal}

I know the picture is kinda small. Started with small and thought it was too small but lazy to reload, switched to medium size, and it was taking so long to load and now I am just really tired so I have to continue loading next time. Tata.

Lazy!

Its almost going home time and I am soooo lazy to continue working. Thus, I decided to update my poor blog.

A rare thing happened last Friday. I managed to have dinner with sis SY, just the two of us. Its normally kinda hard to have just the two of us for dinner cos there is always someone else and a weekend is just impossible.

Anyways, RH had a company thing going on and I so I planned to have dinner at home, meaning my parent's home (read last post). Except that when I got home, NO ONE was home and there was no dinner waiting for me. Everyone apparently thought that I had plans too.

Lucky for me, I called SY and boom, she did not have plans either. We decided to have dinner and found a new place at Siglap called Blue Lobster. I would not bother putting down the address and phone number because although it was a fancy restaurant, it really did not serve good food.

Anyways, here is what we ordered.

{1. Baked Oyster with Moray Sauce 2. Steamed Oyster with some Asian sauce}

{3. Crab Cakes}

{4. Lamb Rack}

{5. Sole Fillet 6. Chocolate Mousse}

Sorry about the names, I do not remember the fancy names. Imagine if they had these names on their menu....hahahaha....they would probably have less customers than the few that they had.

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We celebrated my birthday at Ah Orh last night.........

回娘家

Sooooo many things to blog and soooooo many things to update!!!!

Hurray! I am going back to mom's place to sleep tonight....HURRAY HURRAY HURRAY!!!

Yes, yes, I was tortured with whips and not given any food by RH..... boo hoooo.......booo hooo.....made to slave and do all sorts of housework, chained at home with no key and no means of escape......

Hahaha, the above is not true la. How can RH torture me like that. However, the housework part is true though. I have been doing housework and more housework the past week. Having no maid is a torture........at least for a spoiled gal like me.

Btw, that reminds me, I need to buy color bleach (oh no, I am sounding like a housewife already). I was trying to do my ALL my laundry at one go and I also forgot (haven't used the washing machine for eons) that I need to separate out the whites so I ended up laundering all my clothes together. Guess what? My whites are not white anymore. :(

So, I am terribly terribly excited to go home to the comfort of my childhood home. :)

Here is a picture of my beautiful bedsheet. As you can see, its my mattress is kinda lying on the floor. No furnitures yet, people.

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Anyways, its my birthday this coming Sunday and I was suppose to have a surprise celebration from my wonderful small group. However, something came and I found out about it.

Me and RH were suppose to go for Bible Study last night but could not make it because my relatives were in town and they wanted to meet RH. So, we initially decided to split up. RH go dinner with my relatives and I go Bible Study. Alas, I changed my mind and decided to go dinner. Hence, RH called me:

RH: Why don't you go Bible Study tonight?
ME: Why? Its ok. Go dinner with you lah.
RH: Yeah, but I don't think there is anything terribly important to talk about during dinner and not many people are coming for Bible Study so you should go.
ME: Really? But I called SL to tell her I am not coming already.
RH: Yeah, you should go.
ME: No lah, I told SL liao and I don't wanna call her again. Its ok la.
RH: Ok, then maybe we can go there after dinner. Anyways, they usually end kinda late.
ME (smellign something fishy): Ok lor, if you want. See what time we finish dinner lor. Why are you so insistent that I go to Bible Study? You normally don't care what?
RH: Why? I ALWAYS care what!
ME (snort): Yeah right!

Anyways, I finally figured that they were gonna surprise me with birthday cake and all with regards to my impending birthday. Hee Hee. I think I know RH too well. I always know if he is acting out of character. He blew the surprise for me but I am still so touched that they actually bothered to do that for me.

Delicious peach and cream birthady cake. Thanks to YL......love you and your jewels. Hahaha.

{Me & RH}

{Everyone.....}

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Things are not going so well with me at work though. Getting kinda stressed with Dad pushing me for results. Really dunno what to do. Hmm, poor RH is getting all the stress though. :)

Although he did owe me cos I prepared a steak dinner with candles and wine........but he was late coming home from work despite telling me that he was able to come home earlier that day. We ended up having dinner at 9:30 pm. Wished I had taken pictures of it.

Back from the USA.....

Yes, I am back. As you can probably tell. I have not been updating my blog. Totally not my fault.

If you read my previous post, its actually about my Honeymoon to Koh Chang. You can also probably tell that there are not many pictures........that is really because there was somethign wrong with blogspot and any pictures that I have edited with Photoshop cannot be uploaded to my blog.

Thus, it totally destroyed my motivation to blog but alas, I have decided to abandon just that one blog and move on to greener pastures.

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I am finally moving into my new house after all the procrastinations. We were suppose to move in after our Honeymoon but Grandma sternly informed us that we are not allowed to move in unless it is on an approved auspicious date. Thus, we decided to move in July 18 (approved auspicious date) but RH moved back to my parents' place the next day cos "he does not want to be alone". *Snort* More like he does not want to leave the comfort of my parents' place.

Who can blame him? I miss it too. That was why I went back to my parents' place on Tuesday after just one night in my new home. Hee Hee. But alas, all good things come to an end and the inevitable has arrived. I have to finally move into my new home.

Reason being: My parents in law are coming tonight and I can't possibly lug them all (Father in law, Mother in law and Sister in law) to my parents' place nor could I just leave them by themselves at my new home.

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The arrival of my in-laws has also managed to create lots of stress for me. What amI going to cook for them next week? There is no hot water in the house. There are no curtains. There are no beds or table. The TV is not set up. There is no rice cooker. It seems that they have to do everything on the floor. This is the impression I am gonna create for them on their first visit to my home.

ARRRGGGGHHHHH!

Adding to that, my husband just absolutely do not understand why I am so stressed. Anyways, I did the best I can.....

1. Got the hot water working
2. Got part of the curtains done (bathroom and master bedroom)
3. Gonna chug a table and some chairs from my parents' place
4. Bless my mom! She got me plates, cooking utensils and rice cooker
5. Grab mattresses from my parents' place

I just hope that everything will be alright. Here is a picture of me and my mom at the Indonesian Wedding. Just a preview....

Koh Chang

Koh Chang is really an idyllic beach resort town. Most people travel by motorbikes without helmuts but I suspect that its only recently that they have the automatic bikes. What else would your mode of transport be if there is just one single road around the island.

Except for the fact that we went during rainy season, its actually a very enjoyable trip. For those of you expecting those beautifully clear and blue sea at the beach, you are up for a disappointment. The beaches, although wonderful and stretches forever, its not as clean and clear as in Phuket or Koh Samui. However, the attractive trait of Koh Chang is that it is not as commercialized as the islands mentioned above.

Because it is a beach resort island, the whole island is packed with resorts, budget, cheap, luxurious, spa, grand resorts....there are just so many many selections. Seems that a lot of locals go thee for holidays too and everything is soooooooo CHEAP!!!!

Food, massage, resort, bikes.......

Well, we chose to stay in 3 resorts. We spend the first two nights in Koh Chang Kacha. Fantastic hotel with fantastic rates.....the location of the hotel is terrific as well. Its within walking distances to massage parlors, souvenier shops, mini marts and restaurants. Its also located at the White Sand (busiest) Beach.

Of course we mentioned that we were on our honeymoon to all the hotels so here is what they prepared for us.

{Koh Chang Kacha, Aana Resort, Bhumiyama Hotel}

I know, we are disgusting, right! I felt so ugly the whole time I was there due to my hair constantly getting wet due to rain, pool and sea. you know how newly weds are suppose to look really refreshed and in love......they must be wondering whether we are really newly weds.

The first day we were there, we visited both waterfalls on the island. Beautiful and I totally regret forgetting to bring my swimsuit with me. By the way, I bought a new bikini in Bangkok and finally got up the courage to wear bikini for the first time. I think it is totally addictive so there will be future chances of bikini wearing for me.

Back to the waterfalls.....we had to trek our way to the waterfalls as cars and motorbikes rae only allowed until 200 m before. Its wonderful actually because if people were allowed to drive up all the way to the waterfall, see the waterfall and come back out, it would totally not be worth the money. Yep, we need to pay 200 baht (about 8 SGD) to see the waterfalls and I did not even get to swim in the lake.

We rented a motorbike and travelled to one end of the island and I ended up with massive sunburn on my thighs and face. Yep, never never forget to wear sunblock even if the sky looks very very grey and there are interminnent light showers all the time.

Sidetrack: My sunburn has started peeling and its really gross......was debating whether I should take a picture and post it when RH goes:
"Ewwwww, don't lah"
I guess "don't" it is.

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Food in Koh Chang

If you ever go to Koh Chang, you have to try the Italian Restaurant - Invito......its fabulous......i know it is probably the last place on earth that you want to eat Italian Food but its truly fabulous.

Besides having a very romantic atmosphere perfect for honeymooners, it boasts a whole lot of pastas and wood fired thin crust pizzas (very very very thin crust). Not the normal type of pastas and pizzas you are accustomed to, we had the beef tenderloin pasta and meat pizza.....HEAVEN.......

The pasta sauce has a very strong wine taste but utterly delicious, I can't stop eatting it the moment I tasted it. The pizza was good too but not as good as the pasta. The wood fired pizza was roasted just nice and the crust is so thin its almost non-existent. Loads of toppings with a delicious sauce.

Then there is Bang Bao - the fisherman village. Seafood is both fresh and cheap..........Between the 2 of us, we ordered a plate of prawns, butter baked scallops and squid and it only cost us less than SGD $10.........woo hoo....

Back Finally!!!!

I am finally back from my Indonesian Wedding. Was on leave from 8th to 29th June. Soooo cool! Totally lost contact with the internet world. Kinda misss it though.

I am now feeling better but on Thursday (the day I just got back), I was nursing an upset tummy, got sunburnt patches on my face and thighs, felt so grimy with sweat and sand and was extremely extremely tired after a whole day of travelling.

Seriously, it was a WHOLE day of traveling. We woke up at 6:45am to check out of the hotel and have a light breakfast before catching the 8 am taxi to the pier. There is only 1 taxi in the morning. Look at the picture of the taxi below. I know.....not exactly 4 star....

And we had to get on this one to catch the 9 am ferry to Trat (mainland) in order to catch the 11 am bus to Bangkok. (This was the worst part of the trip) It took us 6.5 hours to reach the Bangkok Bus Terminal by which time, my butt was sore from all the sitting.

Then, we had to rush and grab a taxi (cos the bus was late in arriving) to take us to the airport where the last flight to Singapore leaves at 7:40 pm. Finally reached Singapore at the fine time of 11:10 pm........whoops, a total of 15 hours or travelling. I do not recommend this for anyone.

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Our renovation is finally done. Now, I just need to wait for the furnitures and move all my stuff in. I can't believe how much stuff me and RH has. Its ridiculous. Time to throw out stuff which we do not need.

Anyways, my sofa came......its kinda small and we were totally ripped off by the salesperson because we changed the size of our sofa. But at least we have something to sit on now. Hee Hee.

We also bought our washing machine and vacuum........so happy. We bought a 7 kg Panasonic foam wash machine for $429 from Best Denki and got a Karcher wet and dry vacuum from Parisilk at Holland Village. Really happy with our purchases. Just realized that my fridge is also Panasonic adn we should totally have gotten a Panasonic Vacuum so that all our electrical appliances match....hee hee (totally irrelevant).

By the way, the karcher wet and dry vacuum is having a promotion and only costs $160 instead of $225.

{Karcher Vacuum A2204}

I tried out the vacuum last night cos RH complained that the apartment was still very very dusty and it was super great. Whether it was my imagination or not, I felt that the floor was less dusty......brooms totally cannot compare to vaccum. Only complain is the noise of the vacuum but I dun really mind as I dun plan to vacuum everyday......maybe RH will.... Hee hee

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After visiting our apartment a few times, I am really thankful for the breeze. Our apartment (although on the 2nd floor) is really breezy. Anytime of the day, its breezy and its great because it cuts out the need for unsightly fans......hee hee.

The breeze is really unbelievable. Even with a magnet door stopper, the breeze can slam our open bedroom doors.....(yes, it has happend several times).....gotta remember to place a stronger door stopper at all the doors.