France Trip

I'm back from France! Wow! Been there for 8 days to be precise, if I minus the first and last day of flight. Kinda of short... how I wish I can extend the stay. The trip to France was amazing! Been to Paris, Reims, Mont St Michel, Nice, Avignon, Arles, Nimes and Tours. The temperature is okay with days of warmness more than coolness in the early Oct. It would be nicer if I were to visit France in mid Oct onwards as it gets cooler.



I loved the Eiffel Tower lighted up at night! The tower was lighted up in blue with yellow stars to mark the start of its six-month presidency of the European Union! France's most recognizable monument, Eiffel Tower... you must be there to feel the romanticism. If you have the chance to visit Paris, don't miss it.

Ticket to France!

No more Beijing and Xi'an trip! It's a long story, but got to do with Visa thingy that we thought we may have no time for collection.

Just booked SQ ticket to France! Will be flying in early Oct! WOW!!! A place I thought I would probably be visiting its capital, Paris only. This will be my 2nd free and easy attempt for traveling. First attempt was at Australia years ago. Eh, might be a problem because I don't speak French. Heard that France people don't like people to communicate with them in English. Oh no... I hope my French Translator application in iPhone can be of help! Hee.

Hmm, wonder which cities to sightsee?

(The beautiful Paris skyline in "Ratatouille")

Trip to Beijing and Xi'an soon

Have been looking around for available trips these days. Visited TradeWinds, which we thought there was hope! To my astonishment, the trip to Italy (11 days itinerary) had taken in 32 pax and they couldn't accept anymore. So disappointing. I overheard from my colleague saying that the trip with Tradewinds are relaxed and wake up after 8am daily during the trip. Yah! That's what holiday should be! I must try Tradewinds next time! Probably during my honeymoon? Hee! I wonder, why some big travel agencies advertise so much, yet they can't even form a tour group.

Well, since there wasn't much time left, we decided to "downgrade" our holiday trip to China. CTC has agreed to secure 2 places for us. Payment is to be made by tomorrow. We are going for 8 Days to Beijing and Xi'an, a cultural tour. Hmmm, I hope I will like it, because cultural tour normally is boring. LOL. Nevertheless, the trip will bring us to visit the Wonders of the World ! This will be interesting! Yeah!

Do you know what are the wonders of the world? Do you know there are many types? E.g. Ancient Wonders, Natural Wonders, etc.

Why no tour in early Oct ?

Oh my! I received a phone called from the tour agency in the morning and was informed my Switzerland + Paris trip had to be cancelled due to low response. I thought of hopping over to another another travel agency, but unfortunately, they also cannot form the trip to Swiss.

However, there were tours formed 1 week before and after. Why is it so? I don't understand. Is it because it was the exam period? School holiday? Public holiday? I can't find any reason. I have blocked 2 weeks of leave and have been looking forward to this beautiful Swiss. And now my tour has been cancelled, I have to find other places to visit. Haiz. Such a disappointment.

I'm healthy, what about you?

Today collected my health check report. It was a free health screening program that I took in my company.

The report indicated I was underweight. It says I should attempt to increase my body mass by muscle and bone enhancement. It means I need to increase my protein intake and take up more exercise. Well, I have in fact gained 1kg since last year. Hee. Have started off to take health products from Herbalife and Agel. Don't mistaken, these products are not meant to put on weight. They are more for body enhancement. After taking for several months, I find them doing good to my body.

I guess I worried for nothing. I was wondering about my blood cholesterol level this time, as I used to have high cholesterol. This time, my cholesterol profile is normal. However, it was not the case for some of my colleagues. Is it true that if you take seafood, it will incease the level of cholesterol? If you don't often take seafood, could the lifestyle or under stress affect the cholesterol level? One thing for sure, I avoid eating egg yolk whenever I can.

Window-shopping at Harvey Norman

Anyway, today went to Harvey Norman to window-shop for refrigerator and washing machine. There were several brands on display. In the end, we set our mindset to Sharp 2-door refrigerator and Samsung top load washing machine for the time being.

The sharp fridge looked rather stylish, and its hybrid cooling system was one of its selling point. Though we might have settled for Samsung washing machine because of its diamond drum, I am still deciding between top and front load. Front load saves water but takes longer to complete washing. Front load maybe costly to buy, but in the long run, you save water. In the dilemma now...

We also browsed for LCD TV. Series 7 of Samsung is sleek and has an unique Crystal Design styling. Its contrast ratio is up to 50,000:1. Wow!!! We're eyeing on this now. Probably will get one in a few months' time. Hee.

Nasty Cab Driver in Kiddyland

Yesterday, I hiked a ride on a cab to a nearby train station. Guess what I found interesting on the cab? Lots of cute ornaments were decorated at the cab front. There were Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Hello Kitty just to name a few. According to the driver, they were bought from Japan.

Why I name him nasty? Probably he wasn't too happy that I took this photo or was in a rush to change shift at downtown. He drove at high speed to my destination. Upon reaching, he didn't bother to key in the 30cents fuel surcharge and requested me to write down myself on the receipt. Next, I couldn't open the cab door to alight. He nagged impatiently at me to pull the door trigger. I tried many times but was afraid to pull hard that I might spoilt it. In a frustrated mood, the driver stretched his hand out to pull the door trigger for me. Yah, the door was opened in the end. Thanks goodness, I could finally alight and need not continue to face that nasty driver.

As passenger, we do not wish to spoilt the car, but to the driver, they think that passengers can't even perform such an easy task.

Wedding of Ex Colleague

Tonight went to attend a male ex colleague's wedding held at Holiday Inn Hotel. When the dinner was about to start, there were music and waiters marching in, holding the 1st cold dish of the night! Oh gosh! I bet you never encounter what happened next in any of the wedding dinners you've attended. Suddenly, an Indian chef appeared from the back and he started dancing and massaging his big belly all the way to the front stage~ *~Applause~*

Well, the food was alright. We were served with cold dish, sharks' fin, steamed chicken, vege with mushroom, fish, ee-fu noodle, drunken prawns and yam paste. Oops, forgot 2 more dishes.

My colleague brought her daughter along. She became the entertainer to the table. Met her once during a BBQ. She left me an impression that she's cute and sensible. Her father has taught her well. Take a look at her! Isn't she adorable?

Start of House Renovation

Wow! 7th lunar month is over! Today is the start of my new house's renovation. Kinda excited! Hee. First day of renovation, my interior desiger called and informed me that there was water dipping from the wall at the kitchen sink. Aiyo, so unlucky. I hope the renovation can complete early. I'm so anxious to see how my house will look like after "make-over".

Wall.E

Yesterday night, I went to catch the upcoming movie from Pixar, "Wall.E". The whole movie has minimal conversation between the characters, ie mainly actions, but it's kinda cute though. Hee. I shall give a rating of 7/10.

I just love the small cleaner-bot! So cute! Haha, it was interesting to see him frown whenever he spots any foreign contaminant or dirts! This movie also has several hidden meanings, such as getting fat by being a couch potato and how Mother Earth would be like when there is no life. Don't understand what I mean? Go catch it and you'll understand :)

Anyway, what's the next Pixar movie after Wall.E?

Death of Mr Harry Tan

Just heard the news that, Mr Harry Tan (former principle of St. Andrew and Whitley Secondary) passed away peacefully on 6 Aug 08 in the early afternoon. He died young at the age of 67 years old.

He was very strict, but none of us dislike him. He's a principle, who was willing to spend his free time to teach 'A' level Math in my Sec 4's life. With his motivation and drive, my school even went to the top 50 schools for the first time!

Sad to hear, he is no longer around. RIP, Mr Harry Tan.

GPRS used at iPhone

Guess one of the flaws about iPhone was, even if I off the Wifi and 3G, I still can surf net! It seemed like APN has been installed and setup in iPhone and this probably activates the use of GPRS. Sianz! I only realised it recently and more than 3MB of data has been received via GPRS. I gotta pay extra bucks for these. Faint!

Haiya, if really want to play safe, remove the SIM card, then it will not connect~ Faint, then my iPhone becomes iPod Touch~

My White iPhone 3G

Probably due to the rain today, the queue wasn't as long as I thought. Hee. In less than 90 minutes, I got my 16GB White iPhone. Yeah!!! Yeah!!! Besides that, I bought a transparent silicon cover for the phone too. Must protect from scratches. Hee Hee.

While trying to play around it, I found myself quite clumsy. Especially when it comes to typing sms. Often mistype the letters. Nevertheless, I never regret buying it :)

Launch of iPhone Pricing

Gosh! Finally SingTel released its mobile pricing for Apple iPhone! Guess what? With the current mobile plan, I must pay S$698 for the phone! Some suggested me to upgrade my mobile plan and just pay S$398 for the phone. Sad... I have never gotten a phone more than S$300 before. Heart pain sia... but it's a phone I like to get. Let me think about it for 2 days first. Singapore official launch date for iPhone is 22 Aug 08~

Silver for Singapore in Beijing Olympics 2008

I waked up early to catch the swimming finals today wor! Yeah!!! Michael Phelps (from USA) made history by winning his 8th GOLD medal at men's 4x100m medley swimming relay!!!

And of course, there's a match that Singapore has been waiting for! Tonight, Table Tennis Team (Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu) bagged silver medal for Singapore~ Hooray!!! It has been a long wait since the last Olympics silver in 1960. Everyone knows it's not easy to win the China's team, but at least they fulfilled Singapore’s expectations of a medal. Thanks girls, you made us proud~

Unlucky Day

What a 'nice' day~

Early in the morning, I wore my slippers out from house...took a lift down and happily walk to the next block. Suddenly, I tripped! I didn't fall down. I tripped because my slipper got spoilt and I could not wear them anymore. I had no choice but to walk home barefooted to get a new pair of shoes.

My First Jog

Finally after 7 years, I had my first jog at stadium today! Target to run 2.4km! So in the end, I ran non-stop for 2.2km and walked for the remaining 200m. Completed it in 20-25 minutes. Faint! Tough... Tired... Got to admit I'm not as fit as last time~

Europe Tour Booked

My 1st blog! I've been wanting to create one, but always too lazy to do so. Keke.

Went to Natas at Expo on Fri to book my 10 Days "Switzerland + Paris" tour. The trip will be in early Oct 08. I am really looking forward to it!