Verglas Blog: May 2010

Monday, May 31, 2010

Life is vulnerable..

Treasure it.
Treasure your loved ones.
Remember to count your blessings.

Cos you never know what may happen.

I attended a wake last night. She was only 27.

I wouldnt be able to do a good narration of the bittersweet story. I am a bad writer. And an emotional wreck. And I think it's better to keep it personal.

So perhaps just another reminder to self and friends. Treasure life. Treasure your loved ones.

Short Rendezvous: 22 - 26 May 2010

What we were up to over the looooong weekend!

We went in search of insects at the park after leaving the little boy with the groomers. That gave us a good 3 hour to catch up ~~with each other~~ with some crawlies. -___-"

They say there's always a woman behind every successful man.

There I was. Right behind. Capturing his photog moments :)

Back to rendezvous days with the Jap bestfriends whom we won many pictionary with! Cos in Atsu's words, "although I can draw well, we lost due to our limited vocabulary.."

*heehee*

His words holds true to this!!

Guan Yin well drawn eh? Here, he was trying to illustrate to us how the brand CANON came about! It was actually derived from Guan Yin! The man behind canon must have been a Buddhist!

And a chronogical documentary of our merry making rendezvous..

Day 1 - Sunset Grill and Pub, Chomp Chomp

Biru, many glasses of milk and water (not in pic)

The first plate of Buffalo wings - Level 1. Atsu is a very ambitious man. He wanted to try level 30/35 when we told him about the board of honour!! Lucky we convinced him to try out level 1 and 3 first...

Bottom left: level 1

Bottom right: level 3!!! (Looks the same but damn HOT!!)

We stopped at 3 and headed Chomp Chomp for more local delights cravings..

Day 2 - Kovan, Hougang Mall, My House, Red Star, Marina Barriage, Geylang

Breakfast at their favorite chicken rice stall in Kovan. The whole hawker centre was closed down for renovations but luckily the chicken rice stall is one of the fewwww stalls that rented a space in the makeshift hawker... *whew*

There was also an oyster omelette (not in pic).

Then we headed Hougang Mall for some Or Nee! (Mari's fave!!) and to my house to see the little baby :)

Luncheon was done in Red Star, another one of our faves cos of its traditional setting. The waitresses push the dimsum carts around!

Atsu's first time there. Cos Mari's attempt to bring him there failed ;p she only remembered it was near diving school and within a HDB.. hahaha..So they had a hard time trying to find THAT correct HDB while riding around...

We headed to Marina. Stopped at Peninsula and Funan for the 2 men to accomplish their work. Atsu's office work and N's camera lust. Bagged the better tripod, though it was way above our budget. N&I always set a budget before a purchase but always fail to adhere strictly to it.. -__-" like that how to save up for marriage??!!

Anyways, it served its good purpose IMMEDIATELY! So good buy! :)

Brought it to the rooftop carpark and monkeyed around. That's when we realised his camera has a function for 10 consecutive shots. TEN!!! TEN leh!!! U can do 3 jumps within a take!!

Then we headed to the Barrage. Jap's first time, not amazing. Our first time too, amazing not? o_O

Aim of the day was to get good sunset shots. So we wait.... and had a cuppa in the Cafe. Yes, picnic-goers. There is a cafe there! :)

Right before sunset. A coupla more monkey shots with the TEN shots function. :):):):):)

Reminisce!

An attempt to do a dragon shot ;p

And the paparazzi in me... ;p

Sunset done, we headed to more FOOD!!

GEYLANG!! Beef horfun!

That wasnt all. there was also a Yam ring and another plate of vege (not in pic)

The xxx th time we went there for dinner. There were many done with their friends and families when they visited Singapore. That said, we realised that we havent been to any of the places that we had been frequenting with the Japs. Think we got boring after they left *heh*

Day 5 - Vivocity, Airport

Visited National Geographic to document down some antiques for Atsu. :) The man flew off that morning for another country.. Mari's flight was at night.. So we had a farewell dinner and sent her to the airport..

Last dinner in Singapore (for this time round) had to be a local fare! So Republic Foodcourt is the answer! Where else to get Bah Kut Teh and Laska together to satisfy Mari's cravings?! :)

Of course it didnt just stop at Bah Kut Teh and Laksa... There was sucha huge spread of local fare! We had to get morrre! :):) Popiah, braised trotters and chinese rojak.

And since we had time, some desserts and chillax. New place in Vivo! We like!! :)

Happy with our yummy and beautiful cakes :)

***THE END***

To be continued in in the later half of 2010 :)

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Before I go...

It is TGIT!!!

And the man got me a nice snapshot in a Loef Heidi whilst we were inside National Geographic documenting the national treasures that Atsu didnt get to see...

The antique carpets and furnitures are his major loves. And this antique mirror was a great portrait background for the man who was fooling around with his new lenses.

-_-"

I'm scooting off to meet the cavers!! :) YAY to great dresses and the long weekend!! :)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

HCM Day 3 - Cuchi Tunnel and Cao Dao Temple

Made day tour bookings with The Sinh Tourist again for our 3rd day in HCM. Since we had a lot of time on hand (doing HCM for 6 days 5 nights is a little too long), we decided to occupy the full 3rd day with a day tour. They offered Cuchi 1/2 day tour and Cuchi and Caodao 1 day tour. Obviously, with too much time on hand, we went for the full day! Cost VND 195,000 (~S$15), inclusive of 500ml water, coach ride and entrance tic to the Cuchi tunnels. Lunch is on your own, driver brings u there. Dont expect anything fanciful. It will be a local fare.

A picture of the tour agency in case anyone googles and this space.

Stop 1 - Handicap Crafts Centre

Very delicate hands! And they do pretty crafts!

Take a look at some of their craftworks...

Buy! and help the economy! Too bad I dont have my own house. If not I sure (i think) buy some as decors.

Stop 2 - Cao Dao Temple

Interesting temple. The religion consists of 3 different religions combined (after a war, i think) - Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.

Look around the pretty courtyard...

Man and woman has to go through different entrances and exits. The kind people there will help you get around if u are not sure. You can tell from their body language when u walk in the wrong directions! :p

Symbol for this religion is actually an eye in the middle of a triangle. Eye represents god/buddha can SEE what you do. Each edge of the triangle represents one of the 3 religions.

A beautiful sight awaits at the backyard :):) Different lives, same sky :)

Stop 3 - Cuchi Tunnels

This had me entering and leaving in awe. I wondered how the villagers learned to dig such a well organised yet massive tunnel. How did they dig? How did they create the ventilations? How did they get accustomed to such small space so easily? Why were they not claustrophobic?

I had many hows and whys on my head....that I will never get to find out unless we teleport back into time..

Some pictures...

A shed

Tour guide uncovered the well camouflaged cover leading to the tunnel entrance..

tiny entrance. You can enter if u dare ;p

Our entrance fees included a 30m, 60m or 100m crawl in the tunnel. Level one only. Deeper down, lesser air. I felt like hyperventilating even before the first 30m. It was pitch dark inside. And verrrry verrrrry cramp. Lucky N never go with me..I think he cannot squeeze through!! hahaha! By the first stream of lights marking some stairs and exit point, I exited immediately. 60m and 100m is obviously NOT a choice.

There were traps hidden all over the grounds to trap intruders. Below are some preserved ones..

A swivel cover camouflaged by grasses

It swivels upwards when u step on it

And intruders fall into sharp knifes. Most of the Cuchi people were hunters. So creating traps like these were of easy feat.

There was an exhibit hall showcasing more deadly traps.

Go with a guide. He will show you how the traps work with a mock leg stick.

And the pictures on the walls showing how the traps killed soldiers..

The Vietnamese are really a bunch of creative recycling people!

What do you do with the old and (little bit) worn out tyres of your vehicle? For a normal Singaporean, we change our tyres every 40,000 - 50,000km of mileage. It doesnt even get so worn out as below tyre when we decide to change into spanking new BRANDED Bridgestones!

They use it to make slippers! Am sure the material provides a good grip, better than any other sandals! Better than crocs leh I think..

So how? You tyre changing people guilty or not???!!! We know all about recycling. But all we know is to throw respective items into the green, yellow and red bins along orchard road. Guilty or not?!

And see what amazing things they can create with used cans...

!!!!!!!!!!!

Really upped another level of respect!

There was a fruitful jackfruit tree right outside the tunnel entrance...see for yourself... WOW!!

We headed back to Ben Thanh Market (Night) for dineroos. Ordered less this time cos we were full from the bread we packed for the day trip :)

Morning glory - how they call it. We decided to order this and anticipated a vege surprise without knowing that this actually was a Kangkong ;p

Coconut Juice - Must tell them you want BIGGER one! Hydrate hydrate hydrate! tho the smaller one tastes sweeter :)

The grilled fish we were eyeing on day one :) Yumsssss...

Fried rice with beef cubes...it was under the same category as the fried rice we ordered on day one...but when it came, portion of rice was sooo much smaller..