Marching on - JanuarIED

March started off on a positive note for a job hunter like me. Started the day with a trip to the far east of Singapore (took about 90minutes!) for an interview. If not for it, it is most unlikely that I will step into this part of my homeland. Sometimes I find it ironic that people fly for hours to a foreign land and yet do not have the motivation to explore places at home. I plead guilty at times and I definitely want to explore these places during my long vacation (by when it will end, I do not know but I'm marching on in search of that ideal (or near ideal) job :)

It's funny how time seems to slow down in the first 2 months of my long vacation (1 spent in Scandinavia and 1 spent in the quiet year-end job market) and how it seems to fly in the last 2 months! For those of you who have been envying me, job hunting turned out to be a full time job (San pay package!) with its own ups and downs which I shall not (do not want to) elaborate...

So how have I been JanuaryING and FebruaryING? Let's do a stock-take (with the photos taken with my S3). January first,  then February in the next post...

Went to the Asian Civilisation Museum Open House on New Year day.

With YK and our New Year drinks at Clark Quay :)




Fishball noodles after my first interview of the year at Tanjong Pagar Market(by the way, it is now closed for renovation. This was surreal because the stall used to be at Lau Pa Sat and I always had it when I needed some comfort food. I was thinking about it when I chanced upon it. Such is life.

Famous peanut ice kacang at Tanjong Pagar Market.

Went to Johor Bahru City Square with my equally jobless sister and happy to see Xu Liu San from Hong Kong. I miss Hong Kong! 

Hmmm... one more reason to cross the causeway more often :)

Zo cards! Found during spring cleaning.

Watched Le Miserables and found a drawing of it (which I did in secondary school so MANY years back) during spring cleaning. Ah...

Meet up with the girls (some mothers now) from Hall 8!

We had collagen soup at a Japanese restaurant at Plaza Singapura. A bit ironic (see the irony?) :P

  

Went to Tanjong Pagar for a hair cut and ate at the market again! The Nasi Lemak which attracted a long queue I went last time. No queue this time so we ate.

Looking a bit geeky with bangs :P

  

Collected my new lomo camera - Holga 135BC - from Groupon! My new toy I got for myself last christmas (lazy to collect earlier) - also a reward for job hunting so diligently.

At the Changi Airport to pick my brother up from the airport. He's back from Stockholm, back to reality.

I made this card for LMQ's XXth Birthday :)

And we took part in the Green Corridor Run 2013. Different from the usual road runs and marina bay sands views. It's fun - do try it next year!

And on the last day of January 2013, I attended my cousin's wedding (funny how the cousin, younger by so many years, will have to give me an ang bao next year...) ! Happy marriage, MX!

Also attended a 3 days course on Change Management at the HCS (Human Capital School)... I guess I blogged more and twitted more (excited to have more followers now!) Check out my wordpress blog (ilovelongvacation) for pictures of my Scandinavia trip!

Not sure if I achieved too much or too little in January. Guess it was nothing to shout about. I probably could have done some of these even if I was working, I guess. Well, well. This is life and it has to go on, employed or not, like it or not.

I would say January was good. Happy Marching everyone!



Club Med Bintan

Did not take a lot of pictures in Club Med Bintan. Here are my top ten :)



Having fun trying out the camera timer for some self portraits :)



Dedicated to all those who eat to live. Club Med is a great place - you don't have to think too much about where and what to eat :P



Spa. Need I say more?



Sun. Sea. Sand :)

雨过天晴的吴哥窟

雨后的城市果然美多了。 这是今天跑步时最大的发现。哈哈。
原来雨真的能清洗城市，让它发光，发亮。

我想起了几年前的Siem Reap之旅 - 导游说雨季是到访当地的最佳时候。因为雨后的吴哥窟最美。 雨带走了灰尘，让它恢复原本（几乎）的风貌。
吴哥窟很美。好想在雨季重游更美的吴哥窟。

The Happiness Project (in Club Med Bintan?)

I just came back from a holiday in Club Med Bintan. Was supposed to start on the book 'The Happiness Project' but did not managed to do so - too much (food, activities, conversations) occupied me for the last few days.

There's no pictures yet (I did not take a lot anyway) and I really want to share a conversation I had with a G.O.

Was talking to a G.O. from Philippines last night - nice chap who came to talk to me when YK went to the dance floor :) There's a lot of human touch in Club Med - not really me because I really don't like to talk that much but definitely interesting. He came across as very talented - rock singer, water sports/extreme sport athlete. I remember we talked about diving - he can dive but doesn't have a licence because it's too expensive. And what came to my mind was: so many singaporeans just take diving lessons for fun, get a licence and add it to our collection of papers. Maybe dive once or twice a year. It's like we take too many things for granted - some of the many things that we can achieve easily in Singapore could be a luxury for many others.

Back to 'The Happiness Project' - does this make us happy? I don't know.

Am I happy? Yes, I think so. I am contented with what I have in life. But...am I really happy? Could I be happier? When was the last time I felt really happy (or really sad)? When was the last time I shed tears of joy? And tears of sorrow? When was the last time my heart beat with so much excitement that I thought it was going to jump out from my mouth? And my heart beat with so much pain that I thought it was going to die. I cannot remember and it's kind of scary - it's like I am in so much control of my life that I forget to carpe diem (to seize the moment) or diem carpe (if it can be translated like this, to let the moment seize me)?                                                             

I'm going to start on 'The Happiness Project' book soon - will it make me happy or happier? I don't know. But it's worth a try.

And to the G.O., thank you for the conversation - it really set me thinking. I hope you get a diving licence soon (somehow I got the feeling it's not something you really want because I am sure you will achieve what you want if you set your heart to it). G.O.! :)

Hard Rock Hotel Singapore

Stayed at Hard Rock Hotel Singapore last Thursday - it's a business-pleasure staycation. I want to go back for a real fun staycation because it is a very cool hotel to chill a few days away :)



What a personal touch :)

 


A guitar and a drum in the toilet



Very comfortable bed. I wish I had more time to laze.



Disco. Disco. Disco.



The bed couch. I love this. But I did not have time to enjoy it. Will do so in Club Med Bintan next week!



Bedroom slippers will never be the same again.

Lift lobby.

Lift lobby.

Beach or Pool. Beach Pool. Like!

手机的照片 - 香港的云吞面

突然心血来潮，想把手机里的照片上载到BLOG。

这张是老朋友MQ最近重游香港， watsapp 的。让我想起了大伙30岁的旅行 :)



Wanton noodles in Hong Kong - nice, springly. Cannot remember the name of the shop but it was right behind Prudential Hotel in Jordan.

Bali Bali

Just feel like blogging these days... guess writing is a good way to vent all those negative emotions...

So why not blog about Bali? An island I went to about 7 months ago... The best things about Bali:

Horse-riding - my first time. Very exciting :)

Lazing in a beautiful villa - my first time too. I like.

Chilling in Hard Rock Cafe Bali - Listen to This Dream... I like the white "PEACE" shirt I got from the HRC shop :)

Seeing nice scenaries - first time I have come so close to an "active" volcano....

Seeing first-hand the local culture...

Watching the sun set at Tanah Lot....



Starting the day with a good healthy breakfast. Yogurt, anyone? :)

Swim, tan, swim, tan, swim, tan, swim, tan

Wandering aimlessly in the streets, weaving in and out of shops...

Good friends + Good food = What more can you ask for? :)

Here to more and better holidays to come! Cheers!

HCMC

Here'a BLOG to the business trip to HCMC (hmmm I just blogged about colleagues in love and now I'm going to talk about war). The city's USP is the war - there's so many versions about the Vietnam War. I do not know which version is true. Its really subjective. But the best (heartfelt) thing I heard is that there are no winners in this war, because so many people died of it! I think I have seen most of HCMC and will probably not be going back to HCMC on my own. Here's my version...

Sunrise from service apt

Mekong River

Moonson@HCMC



Ben Thanh Market

Concert Hall? I can't remember exactly.

Notre Dame Church



The Post Office



Street scene



More of HCMC from service apt



Cu Chi Tunnels