Fried Tung Hoon

Cooking should be an interest, an impromptu decision to put together some ingredients when you feel like it, a sudden urge to display your masak masak cooking skills honed from playhood. It should never be a daily chore.

And hence, it will be made with LOVE. And creativity.

Because I had the last packet of Japanese starch noodle in the house from the last Sukiyaki gathering...and it looked like it could be used to make chinese fried tung hoon.

And I was hungry....

Do up an evil concoction

 The masak masak frying skills began..

 Serve with egg strips over top!

 Who said cooking was difficult?

It is not when it is done leisurely! :)

N should be secretly congratulating himself now for having sucha lazy wife-to-be cos he wouldnt have to be my guinea pig everyday! And I should also be the happiest woman who will only have to cook when I feel like it! Oh! what a match! :)
>.<

Getting Close

...to NATURE...

Sunday was a No Dive day for us as we were flying off the following morning. Trips like this make you a lazy bum. You dont plan ahead. We could always fall back on the sun, sea and sand to slowly while those hours away.  

There is also the default choice of sleeping in, watching the numerous funny hongkong shows on the satellite TV in our room, binge on chips and colas. Yes. We are such lazyasses! :D BUT we are on holiday!!!

We woke up early though, and got to send the other couple off on their 2-hour drive out to a muck dive spot. Since we were up so bright and early, and had a looong day ahead, I decided to google a bit on "What to do in Manado". Lonely Planet did have some good suggestions :)

1) TAMAHON - a market that sells produce which may make you squirm. Bat meat and dog meat. I knew what I was going to see but I insisted on going anyway. Regardless the love I have for dogs and the righteousness I feel against dog-feeding, this was after all just another kind of meat in another country. What I didnt expect to see was a cageful of livestock piled on top of one another at the entrance of the market. AND they were yelping helplessly and staring at you with those emotional eyes. I couldnt bring myself to see more, much less take any photo.

2) TANGKOKO - A nature reserve about 60km from Manado, about a 2-hour car ride from our resort. It is said to be the habitat to one of the unique monkey species - the Tarsius Monkey. We were offered an alternative suggestion to a zoo-like place which is much nearer and has guaranteed sighting. But we chose to do things the harder way.

Foreigners have to pay about S$12 each to enter the nature reserve. It's perhaps a token payment for the maintenance of the only toilets erected at the entrance, the wear and tear of the orange ribbons which serve as path guides within the reserve. I assume the staffs (rangers and guards at entrance) are paid by the government since they must have been employed by the government. Other than that, there is nothing much to maintain in a nature reserve. The walking paths are left au naturale, broken trunks are left to rot by themselves, there are no shelters inside for tired feet or peltering rain, no toilet or water stops, no fanciful bridge across the canopy...So I have no idea why we were made to pay such a big token sum. After all, well maintained nature reserves are FREE FOR ALL in SINGAPORE!!

I italicised foreigners because we saw a bunch of locals making merry by the beach inside, but the registration record (also the payment record book) only showed that there was only 1 more german couple before us that day.

But I really wanted to experience a nature's walk to hunt for the tarsius la.

So off we went! Remember we are on holiday! So no GRUMBLING!

 The resident tarsius(s) live in this tree.

 Oh ya! S$12 also paid for a bottle of 3 live grasshoppers as baits!

And we saw one of the cutestest monkey!!

 There was another species of the black monkey living inside there...

What was most special, was it BUM!! :D

Naked bum!

We sure went back sticky but happy and got ready for dinner night out!

Nasi Kuning - this is a specialty of Manado. We are lucky to have a Manadese friend who brought us to the real deal! Alternatively, the airport will also have (but doesnt taste as nice!) 

The last thing we must eat at the airport.

 And we confirm it doesnt taste as good. But beggars cannot choose! And if you havent tried those real yummy ones, this would perhaps fare better!

Back in Singapore, we also did a nature's trail last Sunday...man made bridge over canopy, clear road signs, water and toilet stop, and alot of easy sightings of monkeys!

And best of all....

FREE OF CHARGE!!!!

To both locals and foreigners!!!

***Presenting our HSBC Treetop Walk***

***with these people***

we saw a sunbathing lizard

 and a mama and baby monkey pair

 The bridge over canopy

 Thorn among the roses - twig among the foliages?

 Sometimes life is all about how you choose to live it, and how you choose to see things.

Manado, in blue

Allow me to drool over yesterday's yummy lunch first.

Mouth Restaurant, China Square Central - Their DIMSUMS all exceed expectations! We just randomly ordered, and all came with a wham bang! All boast of something different from the usual! Of new spices added, new presentation style, new taste sensations. I like them ALL! :)

Cream of salted egg yolk bun - The cream was sweet and savoury. And we didnt expect it to come in polo style buns!

Crab meat har gao - this one is normal

Yam balls!!!! All time favorite!! Crisp enough on the outside, tender enough on the inside!

Dumpling with black fungus - contains shrooms of sorts, wrapped in the softest skin!

Dumpling in vinegar sauce - came with mannny other condiments that excites your taste buds every time you bite into something other than vinegar. OOOHLALA. We actually drenched our fried meesua with the sauce!

Now I am HUNGRY!

**GROWLSS**

Definitelty one of my favorite underwater self portrait! Where I dont look like a seahorse, nor a matrix, nor a bulge-eyed goldfish x_x And I had soooo many beautiful fishes swimming all around in the background.

NICE

Perhaps can put on a gown and some makeup to achieve that underwater bridal shot in my blog header already???? ;p

My ears literally perked up when I heard that Jeff's bro is a photographer! and does underwater shoots!! OMG!

And definitely my favorite shot of a fish ;p

The PUFFER, all PUFFED up!!! It was sooo fun! It literally ballooned into a ball! And I could feel its breath as it contract and expand!

And some of the best shots (we had) of the underwater world on this trip...

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder....

If it attracts you as much, please come diving with me :)

Till the next update! :):)

Much love

Manado, as seen on land

The day we did Javiers, after a heart to heart talk with a food connoisseur I just got to know.. I kindly rejected his offer to lend me his cook books, but promised to head to this place for a meal :)

Javiers is under the Astons umbrella. So if you love Aston, you should love Javier a little bit more! Side dishes are FREE FLOW for one serving! So you pile as much of your favoritestest items onto the plate!! :) It's situated at the basement of Cineleisure. So go try!

N&I decided to make good the LAST THREE days of my annual leave on THIS diving trip, out of the mannnnnnnnny that have been dangling as carrots for us. hurhur..

A different company, a different way. It was the first time we booked a dive trip directly with the dive resort at destination. Previously, we paid our dues to our school in Singapore, who made such arrangements and made sure they sent enough experts from here to provide the ultimate safety companionship underwater. Hence, I was skeptical initially. Safety measures are of ultimate importance to me, especially during diving trips!

But all thanks to fantastic planning and coordination by Jeff&Regina (it's important that you speak their language in destination land), we had a great and safe trip! :)

All was great and dandy till the day before I flew out of the country.

MENSES. WTF?!

Travelling with menses - maybe ok. MAYBE

Diving with menses - DEFINITELY no compromise! CANNOT!

Alright. It was my fault. I knew I had the option of taking The Pills 2 weeks prior to the menses date. But i had a misconception that it will delay the menses till the next ovulation month. And I dint want that to happen, cos I didnt want to be the odd one out at Shum's yatch when everyone else strips to their swim wear! *pouts*

Yet I also wanted to enjoy this trip! *pouts and cries*

Luckily there was Doctor Lai to my rescue! She prescribed me some pills and gave me a jab on the first day of my menses. It worked! :):):) The pills supposedly push back your next menstrual cycle by the same number of days as the current cycle! So I ll still be fresh and dry at the yatch :) *well, we'll see*

So ladies, next time you run into trouble, remember there are jabs and pills which are still effective even when taken on the first day! :) This is especially important for ladies who dont have regular menses! :)

Departure at Changi Airport. Got my daily beauty creams and earned a PUNCH!

So of course got the MAN to whack! While other people's boyfriends kiap the desired furry elmos/hello kitties/carebears for them, this is as far as what mine can compromise. Nothing too guniang.

;p

He eagerly took up the boxing challenge!

9167!!!

I wonder which strong man did the 9545?!

Upon arrival @ Laracassa Resort, Manado. Jeff&Regina only flew in from Jakarta the next day, but they had so kindly arranged for an airport transfer for us :)

I wanted to eat KFC at the airport, but it was tough to communicate since they know little english. So we left that to the departure day :)

Checked out the surrounding while the kitchen prepared food for their 2 famished guests...

In Indonesia, must eat their mee goreng! So we did!

Our bangalow for the next few days...

The Island far far away...Bunaken is the small molehill you see on the right. That's how farr it was... and that was where we went to for a dive one fine day, when one of the boat's motors decided to die on us.

It took us yearrrrrrssss to get there. o_O

And the beautiful sunset...

Since we had Day One to ourselves, we headed out to town! :) The resort booked a cab for us and kept reminding us to take back the cabs from the same company.

Easy peasy. 

Cos it was the called the BLUE BIRD cab! hahahaa! LAN JIAO. The most reputable cab company is actually named after the male genitals?! Not easy to forget. hurhur.

We kept that in mind on our return trip, but there was no LANJIAO available at the taxi stand right outside the shopping mall! :( The friendly security guard helped us get a cab and told the cab driver the directions from our Laracassa name card. We thought it shouldnt make much difference in price, so we got in. And the cab was on running on meter anyway. But guess what?? The charges were quadruple of what we paid for using LANJIAO!

A spew of vulgarities would have sounded like this on the spot (of course we didnt lah!):

Fucking CHE*BYE, why no LANJIAO?

Whahaha! I am still so amused! Please slap me!

We couldnt decide on what to have for dinner. We dont do ini mani mini mor. That's so guniang. So we headed for the restaurant that was showing N's FAVORITE game.

He was totalllllly absorbed. And totally ignored me.

O_o

THIS.is what I lose his attention to.

Well, all is fair in the dating game. He also loses MY attention to MURPHY :p

Ayam Penyet. This had to be the TINIEST and SKINNIEST chicken I have ever seen! Luckily, it was only the appetiser of our dinner that night...

Cos we were saving our stomach for BIGGER things!

A&W A&W A&W A&W A&W A&W A&W A&W A&W A&W A&W A&W

I always wonder why they didnt make it in Singapore :(

Our dinner on Day Two - with compliments from STARRY.

This had to be the most EXCITING dish! When I asked Starry what it was, he told me they were fish X. I thought I heard wrongly, so I asked again.

He repeated again. This time round, looking downwards. At that point in time, I didnt know he was looking at his phone. And I really thought he was referring to (and hence staring at) the crotch. It made absolute sense cos he said Fish X! Like penis is a TABOO word, even though the most reputable cab company is named after one!

Alright. I slapped myself already! Should totally stop the penis joke.

We got up at 530am one morning to capture sunrise. Actually I didnt. But N just gave me a slight nudge when he woke up and then he jumped out of bed. So I tagged along when he went out to do his thing lor.

Sunrise in different modes.

AND THIS. Is the BEST shot from that morning.

The calm ocean. The distinct rays from the sun.

I LOVE this picture very much!

A look at the dive spotsssss around us. Everyday was planned by Jeff&Regina. I only contributed by telling them that I wanted to see DUGONG and mandarin fishes.

We dont do our dive logs anymore, so I dont have the exact location for every underwater picture that we took ;p So these spots are just for good remembrance of the number of choices we had during the trip.

Bunaken - The island stopover we made because we had some inconsiderate family on board with us:

They totally slept in till late on the morning of departure - totally disregarded that there were other people sharing the same boat with them!

They complained that the resort didnt have enough equipment to lend them - They were late and didnt inform of equipment rental in time! Our boat was already out in the sea, what do they expect? Swim back and get equipment for them?

They compared the dives to their Bali dives - when they are not even seasoned enough to differentiate between commercial diving and leisure diving. Bali does commercial diving. Meaning you can go into the water without ANY PRIOR TRAINING! And with commercialisation, they of course have all the equipment available in huge quantities and perhaps in the latest colours! In any leisure dive resorts, people are seasoned divers and have their OWN equipment. So such resorts normally dont carry alot of rental equipment. And they tend to be more professional.

They requested to go near the island, just disappeared onto the island during one of our surface intervals (normally is about 50-60 minutes) and ordered their lunch - we already have lunch packed by the kitchen on our boat. There is enough for everybody. And we had plans to travel out into the sea for our next dive! So because of them, we had to dive right below the island, and see what a typical snorkeller will get to see. WTF. They took their own sweet time to makan and jalan jalan, and only strutted out AFTER we had our 60 minute dive AFTER our 60 minute surface interval. Freaking inconsiderate and snotty! *Blows bubbles into their face* 

To top it off, their precious son was an ultimate spoilt and obese BRAT who whined during the whole dive, had the mother swooning over him like a prince, and who had multiple gadgetssssssss to play with on board - PSP, DS, Iphone....and something else....Who the fuck brings so many gadgets on a dive trip?! So YAY! His nose bled before he could finish whining about jumping into the water. But the fucking mother used a tissue to wipe off his blood, and freaking threw in onto the floor of the boat! There was a dustbin provided ok?!! She probably thought they provided a maid on board too..

So there. Because of that family, we had some island time at Bunaken. So we tried to make the best out of it. Some pictures to kill time while trying to think of ways to strand that family on the island! *evil thoughts*

Sunset with the very sweet couple on the way back..

I took out my point and shoot and started camwhoring the sun as it sets....

AND GUESS WHAT??

The SPOILT BRAT took out his DSLR!!!!!!!!!!

D.S.L.R!!!!

WTF! How the hell does a 10yr old know how to use a DSLR????!!!! I swear I would have sniggered at his photos, so I refused to look at them.

Here are some of mine. Watch as the sun slowly sets into the ocean :)

Such love...

Sea post will be up next if I am not lazy :)