Back to Singapore after more than 10 years

The last time I was in S'pore...well...I can't remember anything from the last time I visited S'pore. Other than the fact that my dad was still in the band, my sis hadn't even started kindergarden, my mum had long hair and I was in primary school. The last time I was here, I visited Sentosa Island and the zoo. I sat on the cable car, walked on Orchard Road during Xmas and had my first taste of a hash brown.

More than 10 years later, armed with my OWN passport (my sis and I used to share one with my mum), I am back in the country where everything is FINE!! hehehe....

Taking the morning 7.30am bus from Penang yesterday, I arrived in KL at 11.40am, was picked up by Aunty Lita and headed straight to grandma's house for lunch. There was Rendang Prawns, Spinach soup and Black Pepper Chicken waiting for us when we arrived. As usual, everyone commented on how I look (i.e. no weight gain from the last visit), asked about how apah, amah and Vay were etc. After lunch, we went to look for a money changer but none were open as it was Maulidur Rasul and 99% of the money changers here in Malaysia are Muslims.

Aunty Lita and I headed back home to have a short rest and also pack our clothing into one bag for easy travelling. Jared managed to come home for a very very short while, then he headed off to work.

Since our bus to S'pore was at 6.30pm, we had a light tea/dinner of Roti Telur and Roti Bawang before we boarded the bus. We also bought nuggets just in case. The KL-S'pore bus was something. I had my own AV set, complete with headphones. Unfortunately, I fell asleep while watching a movie and decided instead to listen to music the rest of the way. Upon arriving at the S'pore immigration, we were "detained" there for nearly an hour as one Dubai passenger had problems with his passport. Finally, he was detained and our bus was allowed to leave. We arrived at the S'pore bus station at around 1am, took a cab straight home and just got into bed.

I got up at around 8.20am today. Just as I finished brushing my teeth and washing my face, Uncle Stephen came home from work. :-) The three of us then walked to a nearby foodcourt for breakfast. I had coffee and chicken congee. As the portions of food here is big, Uncle Stephen had to finish my congee.

After breakfast, we headed back home where Uncle Stephen went to sleep, while Aunty Lita and I got ready for our outing. We first visited Uncle Stephen's mum, who lives in a nursing home. She was surprised to see us as she was not expecting any visitors. It's my first time meeting her and I must say...Uncle Stephen is the spitting image of his mother. Not only do they look so alike, their characters/personality also match. They both love to talk; they both love to laugh; and they are both loud! :-)

After spending about 45minutes with her, our next stop was Uncle Maurice's apartment. He lives on the upper most floor of the building and his apartment was instantly recognisable, what with all the plants outside his gate. Entering his apartment was like entering an ornament shop. It was filled with pictures, statues, plants etc. If entering his apartment was an experience, entering his room was like entering a mini Catholic gift shop. He had small figures of Jesus in places, Catholic scriptures/booklets everywhere, frames and frames of pictures of family members...I refrained from touching a single thing for fear that if I did touch just one small thing, there would be a whole domino effect!!

We had a Chinese lunch with Uncle Maurice, after which we headed to buy numbers. After walking back to his apartment and taking some pictures, Aunty Lita and I took the bus and headed to Toa Payoh for some sightseeing and shopping.

From the numerous taxi and bus rides I've had since I arrived on the island, the cleanliness of the entire city is spectacular. The roads are so clean, you can't even see a single dried leaf!! That's how clean the roads are!! Besides that, every building is so neatly and cleverly painted that ALL the buildings look new and clean. It's really pleasing to the eyes. Of course, being new to S'pore, I had a small problem when using the travel card. Nothing major or anything but funny enough to be told. You see, the travel card is for convenience. When you board the bus or take the MRT, you just have to tap the card. Unfortunately for me, I "tapped" the card at the wrong part of the machine and I thought it was not working. I was so worried that the bus would just close its doors and continue driving on before I could get down. I kept saying "the card's not working, it's not working" and I must have had a funny look on face coz Aunty Lita was laughing!!

That evening, the three of us headed to Changi hospital to visit Uncle Rufino (my grandfather's eldest bro). He had been admitted the day before. There, I met his wife Aunty Shirley, his daughter Jacinta and her husband Tyrone, and their two kids Naomi and Clarissa. This was the first time I've met all of them. I'm really glad that I managed to meet Uncle Rufino (or uncle Nonoy as he is known) this time. He's already 78 and with his weak heart and declining health, this may be the last time I get to see him. Now...there's only one other Soliano brother that I've yet to meet and that's Uncle Frisco.

After the hospital visit, we headed to Downtown East for dinner. We went to a place called the E! Hub. It was like a mini-Genting, with all the games and food courts.

As the day was long, we headed straight back home after dinner. Tomorrow is another long day. I'm not really sure what the plans are yet but there's the Night Safari that we'll be going to tomorrow night. Then it's back to KL on Monday morning. Sighs...

Happy Birthday Amah!!

I'm writing this 3 days earlier and posting this on the day when one of the most important person in my life celebrates the day she was brought into the world. [I'm not sure why the date says 20th when it should be 23rd]Though the number that tells you just how long she's been in this world may seem old, in reality, she's as young as some 20-year olds. In fact, my friends say that she's younger and more hip than ME!!

Here's wishing my mum, amah, a VERY VERY VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

E - elegant

S - sensitive

M - motherly

E - entertaining

R - rockin'

A - adorable

L - loving

D - daring

A - always around

Red packets, Mandarin Oranges, Hearts

It's February 14th and this year, the day is extra special. Not only is it Valentine's Day, it is also the first day of Chinese New Year. So it's double celebration everywhere. For some friends of mine, it's triple celebration as their birthdays also fall on the same day!!

It's a long weekend, so naturally everyone's on holiday and travelling. Relatives of mine are no exception. 3 of my father's 11 siblings are back in town. So we kind of had a mini-reunion yesterday. Before that, my family and I were invited to our neighbour's reunion as it has been their practice to invite us every year. This year however, the food served was slightly different. Instead of the aunty usually cooking the whole meal, they catered. What did they cater?? Indian food!! Prawns, chicken curry, mutton kurma and Briyani. But then again, it's not something surprising as 90% of my neighbour's friends are Indians!! It was like there was a Deepavali celebration last night!! :-) Oh...and I got an angpow!!

Today, one of my colleagues was getting married. So for the first half of the day, I was in Bukit Tengah celebrating her wedding. It was unfortunate that my camera decided to go crazy today. I was so looking forward to taking pictures!! I'm not sure if it's the battery (coz I loaded new ones in) or the camera itself.

Being single, I've no plans tonight. I'm not even sure what I'm going to have for dinner since almost every Chinese shop is closed!! Tomorrow, I'll be driving across the sea to visit Trish. It'll be my first time driving to her house and surprisingly...my dad did not object!! I also have Yean Ling's house to visit but am not sure when I am going to do that.

Sighs...so far, I've been eating so many oranges!! It's as though oranges are going to be extinct!! I'm always like this during CNY. I just eat and eat and eat oranges. And then for the rest of the year, oranges are out of my diet!! :-)

I'm still waiting to eat Kuah Kapek and the sticky "Tikoi". Usually my neighbours will give us a plate of goodies but as I am writing this, I've yet to receive it. :-(

Oh well...as I wait to receive the goodies, I'll just go and eat more oranges........

Here's wishing everyone a HAPPY VALENTINE'S AND HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!

Usual catch-up

So I met up with one of the few friends that I have in my life - Trish- for dinner yesterday. The meet up was long overdue. Though we SMS each other and chat online everyday (during work, hehe), it's not the same as meeting up and talking face to face.

She picked me up at around 7-ish and since we had decided (earlier in the day, online, while I was at work) that we would have Tandoori for dinner, we headed to the Tanjung Bungah Ananda Bahwan. Yes...it's a long way from where we both live but then, we can't get the same environment anywhere in town. We of course do have to pay slightly more for the food, but heck...it's only once in awhile. Plus, the food is good.

Our meetings/catch-ups usually lasts for hours. If sitting in her car and chatting alone takes 1 hours (everytime), whatmore should we expect when we have dinner? :-)

We had a lot of food: Cheese Tosai, 2 Tandoori Chicken and nan, Briyani rice, ice-cream and drinks. Of course, by the end of the meal and night...I was stuffed!!

We chatted as we waited for our food to arrive; chatted as we ate our food; and chatted as we left the place. I think we sat through at least 2 groups of people, who came, ate and left the table beside us. HEHE!! It's no wonder we got "chased" out of the place once, a long time ago!!

Our meeting this time round lated about 4 hours. I suppose it would have been longer, if she did not have to drive all the way back to BM.

When I reached home, after changing into my pajamas and cleaning my teeth, I immediately fell asleep!! This, despite me having drunk coffee the entire dinner!! I woke up this morning feeling so AWAKE and fresh!! My body must have needed the rest. I can't even remember if I dreamt or not!!

Well...that's another entry in my blog. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep updating my blog when nothing exciting happens in my life. Sighs...

Valentine's and CNY is approaching. So let's see what happens.

55 years and still going strong

[Dad's the one on the right - with the guitar]

It's my dad's 55th birthday today and I'd like to wish him a VERY VERY VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Muax!!

100th entry - Not a good week

This is my 100th entry in my blog. I would say that it is indeed an achievement as I never thought I'd have so much to write about!! Haha!

Anyway, this is not a happy entry.. Since last Friday, things have not been going well. As I said in my previous entry, I got sick last Friday and that ruined all my Thaipusam plans. Then there was the accident on Sunday which sort of crippled my family as we then had to survive and juggle our life with one car. Ok...I just re-read that sentence and it makes my family sound so ungrateful. I mean, the fact that we have two cars doesn't mean we live in luxury. The two cars are a necessity. But I digress.

I went back to work yesterday after being on MC for the first two days of the week. It was nice to go back and catch up on the gossip. After all, what's work without gossip? It was back to usual. Work in the morning till 5.30pm, then home to watch AI and Glee. [Just to side-track: I actually bathed with cold water last night coz it was so damn hot and I couldn't stand it. For those who don't know me, cold showers and me don't get along. It can be hot outside and I'll still bathe with hot water. But to actually break my "normalcy" and bathe with cold water...that's something!! Climate Change!!]

I woke up as usual this morning. Got ready for work, read the newspapers, had my cup of Milo, waited for mum to get ready coz she was sending me to work. Then....the car wouldn't start. Thinking it was out of petrol, dad went to get some but that did not solve the problem. After many futile attempts at trying to start the car, I had to call the office to inform them that I was on emergency leave. And all this is happening on my dad's 55th birthday!!

I'm not sure whether the Gods are testing us; whether it is fate that we all are to be together on my dad's birthday; or whether we're just having a bad start to the month. What I know is, this has been a bad first week of February.

I hope that as the weekend arrives, things will get settled; and by the time Chinese New Year comes, we'll be doing much better.

Damn! I got it!

Damn it!! I caught the sick bug that was going round my office!! I've been sick since Thaipusam eve which was bad coz I had to stay home and couldn't follow my relatives as they made their way up to the hilltop temple. I was feeling slightly better on Thaipusam day itself, so I managed to go see the kavadis and to the temple t pray.

Sunday was bad as I could hardly stand straight. My head felt so heavy, my nose was blocked and I was constantly having a coughing fit!! I practically slept the whole day. To make matters worse, mum got into an accident. A motorcycle hit our car on the driver's side and the window completely shattered. Mum was ok, thank God!! But the window and door are wrecked! To add to that, eventhough we were not at fault, the fact that we got hit by a MOTORCYCLE doesn't seem to matter as MOTORCYCLES are NOT LIABLE!! What kind of law do we have??!! In additonal addition, we've got to spend money due to some 3rd party mumbo-jumbo!! Gosh!!! And then the car insurance and road tax is about to expire nest week!! And due to the accident, we'll lose the NCB which actually saves us some money. But now we have to pay the full insurance fee!! Sigghhssss...........

I've been on medical leave since Monday; mum has not been to the shop for the past two days; and dad has been running around trying to settle the insurance claim etc. What a hassle!! I'm not sure how it's going to be tomorrow when I return to work: coz I'll be taking the other car. Unless of course dad wants to send and pick me up.

The weather has been soooooooooo damn hot!! I'm pretty sure the weather has contributed to my illness and also the tense feelings among everyone at home.

Dad's birthday is this Thursday and he's turning 55. What a week to go through before he reaches that milestone!! I'd thought that he would be retired and living comfortably. But alas, that is just a dream. Sighs.

I hope things settle before Thursday and my dad will at least be able to breathe easier.

Oh well...