29.3.16


Last week was a busy week for me and thus, I seems to have abandoned my blog for a week. LOL. Anyway, no worries, yours truly blog will reached the 10th anniversary next year, as I started blogging in 2007 in my previous blog. Thus, I still got a year to go before I can announced retirement... muahahahaha.... Just joking only. 

Let me sum up what I have been doing for the Holy Week, which has just ended.

1. Yes, mentioning the Holy Week, I actually took a day off on last Thursday to attend church service as well as avoiding the peak hour jam at the causeway. The clever me managed to avoid the terrible jam and had a peaceful time in church on last Thursday night. Good Friday was a holiday in Singapore so I had a long weekend.

2. I thought of going to Desaru for a staycation but my wifey has other plans over the long weekend and we ended up visited most of the popular malls in JB, like Johor Premium Outlets, Aeon Bukit Indah, Tebrau City and etc. Not a bad idea as we jalan-jalan around instead of staying put in the resort which we just went last October.

3. Work has been piling up and that's the reason I didn't blog much last week and after a workout, it was very late and I feel like relaxing in my room with the air-cond fully blast. However, the workouts, especially running, is good to de-stress.

4. Though my next half-marathon will be held on April 10, I decided to take a break from long distance run last week as I just don't feel like doing it, though I did 5KM with my colleagues as well as in the gym. Not sure why, maybe I have been running weekly since CNY and decided to take a rest. However, I will go back to long distance running this week and next week, before the HM on next Sunday. 

5. Oh..though I supposed to fast but I didn't and followed my Chinese colleague for a mutton ribs steamboat. The ribs were already cooked and we just needed to simmer it in the hot soup to warm it up. I love the ribs, it was delicious and the herbal soup was tasty. In fact, I felt warmed after the meal. I guess this is a winter meal in China, where they had it to warm up their body. And, not forgetting dipping the ribs in those peanut sauce. 

Readily cooked but cold mutton ribs

Besides  the ribs, there are also ham, mushrooms, vegetables, 'spare parts' and etc.

The boiling herbal soup...
This was my first time having such mutton ribs steamboat, though I have had mutton before. And, I can say, it was very delicious. Chuan Yang Ji Mutton Soup Steamboat is located at 432 Balestier Rd, Singapore 329813.

22.3.16

I was kinda busy lately with work as well as my training for the coming half-marathon, thus didn't really find time to blog. Oh, well, life is really back to ...errr... 'normal' ? I use the word normal cos it's really back to routine...gone are the holiday season! Oh.. I kept repeating that, and yes, I really miss my last Dec holidays! In fact, I am tempted to check out tours when I pass by tour agencies as well as the Natas/Matta fairs. Sigh... and my sis-in-law just got back from Yogjakarta , how I wish I could join too, but it's school time. Oh yeah, last week was a school holiday but the kids were having their tuitions as well as I have a project deployment to do, so cannot join her. OK, maybe some cuti-cuti Malaysia, let me check if I can go to Desaru for a staycation this coming long weekend. hahahaha... 

Just some rantings here .... btw, I was at Mori restaurant and order a small platter of sushi. Of course we did order some other food but somehow I love this pix. OK, I will definitely go for a Japanese dinner this coming weekend too, maybe to the famous Niyumaru near Sutera Mall. ;)



Have a good week!

18.3.16

I have been working late and missed some workouts for two days. Tried to wake up early at 6am for a run but thanks to the snooze button, I am back to the cold slumber. Thus, though I reached home at 8.30pm tonight, and started getting a little lazy and tired, I really felt uneasy without a workout. Thus, though I felt tempted to stay at home and moreover, with my mom and my nephews and nieces here during the school holidays, I managed to get myself out for a 11km run nearby my neighbourhood. And, I never felt so good after the run. I remember a quote from some running community in SG  which says ' Your body will complain before and during a workout, but your body will thank you after the workout'... something like this. I guess the feel good hormones as well as prevention of certain diseases through exercise in the long run ( no guaranteed ah since I am not a doctor) is what that saying means. In addition to it, it makes us fitter and mentally sharper. I'm glad I managed to get my lazy bones out to run after idle for two days. And, the next half marathon is three weeks from now!

Since it's back to normal life and reality after all the holidays, I am also back to my usual meals. I had a simple Aglio Olio with bacon and a chicken soup yesterday. However, I had mom's home-cooked food tonight. :) 


Have a good weekend and don't stop exercising! Your body will 'thank' you...LOL! Looking forward to next weekend too, where Friday is a holiday in Good Friday.



15.3.16

I was at McDonald's two weeks ago as I was at a loss on what's for dinner after doing my run. Well, I seldom ate at McD for diet reasons but since most of the eateries are closed, I have no choice but to go for a McChicken set with Ice Milo and fries. Ok, I actually love McD especially the fries and I always had it in my 20s.However, after seeing my tummy bulging out gradually, I decided to cut down on fast food. OK, back to the story, I noticed this time round, they offered a special kind of toy which they called the nanoblocks, at an extra $4 , if you purchase the value set meals. Well, it was 'french fries' when I got it and I thought my little princess will like it since she love to play 'masak masak'. I got another one for them the following week, which is a 'drink'. They love it! And, that also means I had two McD meals in two weeks!  And, more to come......just because of the toy! hahahah... I tried to buy the full set but it's sold out!

That two nanoblocks I got! Too bad it cannot be dismantle or built from the blocks.
And, I find their crispy Chicken sandwich quite nice , not sure if it's sold in Malaysia. I love the bun!



OK, will look out for the next nano-block this week, I guess it's an 'apple pie'. Have a good week and eat healthily!

10.3.16

If you are my facebook friend, you will noticed I usually posted my wefie with my colleagues once a week in our running attire. Well, I used to play badminton weekly after work and I have been doing that for the past eight years. However, since players are getting 'depleted' where some have left the company and no new players joining in, we decided to call it a day. It can be frustrating to have two or three players coming to play though we still love the game very much. Anyway, I might join another group later as I still love the game very much.

Thus, I decided to join another group of colleagues weekly to do some running at the East Coast Park. It was a nice place to run as it's windy by the beach  as well as the running path is wide and long and lots of gorgeous young ladies folks were here to train for marathons or just leisure run. It connected all the way from Changi to Tanjung Rhu and then, Gardens by the Bay. Thus, I can run a marathon here ...hahaha... In fact, I ran my Sundown Half Marathon here last year! And, yes,  I got a half marathon in early April and May, and I have already started my humble training.


The running and cycling path

Panoramic view of the sea , facing Indonesia

Another running path , it was quiet then. 

Almost sunset ... nice to run with a beautiful view

Due to time consuming as most of my colleagues have families , usually we will do 5KM (and they are fast, at a pace of 5 minutes+ which left me last or second last!)  but sometimes I thought of doing longer runs like 10km - 15km. I am still checking out if there's any locker services there to keep my stuffs. There are shower facilities as well as good food all over the place, so no problem for my dinner. And, lots of cabs to ferry me back too, after a tiring run. For now, I do 5KM first la with my colleagues.

Oh.. I can't help having another nasi lemak chicken rendang and I am back to Tea Garden in JB last Sunday for the fix. I really love the chicken rendang, it's really tasty! 


Weekend is around the corner, have a good rest! :)

7.3.16

This will be the second and last (I think so ...) pictorial post of my recent holiday to the Jiangnam area of China which sums up my trip. There will be lesser words in this blog for these pixs which were stored in my phone. I took these on the fly while I was on the moving coach or just strolling around.

1. An old street in Nanjing, with old houses and  an old barren tree in between. I wonder why they like to paint the bottom of the tree white.

2. Entrance leading to one of an ancient palace in Nanjing, which has became some commercial centres. (That's what I remember from the tour guide)

3. One of the bustling shopping areas in Nanjing. And I love the clean streets.

4. Looking down below a street in Shanghai from the top of an highway. The traffic is kinda congested there. 

5. A view of Shanghai in the moving coach. Financial centres seems everywhere there, since it is the financial hub of China.

6. An early drizzling morning in Shanghai. And, yes, it was cold! Check out the landed residential houses in the background, I am sure it cost a fortune!

7. This was taken nearby our hotel in Shanghai . It was raining whole day.

8. Our faithful coach which ferries us miles and miles away during our trip

9. The quiet Hangzhou International Airport at 10pm. Our schedule flight back is 12am.

10. After checking-in, seems like only our gang waiting to board. It was quiet there.

11. I decided to take pictures around the small airport, of course with my phone. This is the entrance.

12. The information counter which seems close.

13. Another view of the airport

14. After checking-in and security clearance, here's how it looks like inside. All the cafes are closed and we gotta order from in-flight menu again.

15. It's really quiet by midnight and last pix before we depart.

16. Back to Singapore sound and safe at 5am and little princess posed for me. LOL
Have a good week!! :)

3.3.16

Oh, I mentioned this will be a pictorial post of my recent holiday to the Jiangnam area of China which sums up my trip. There will be lesser words in this blog for these pixs which were stored in my phone.  These pixs were taken on the fly while I am on the moving coach or just walking around but too lazy to snap with the camera. :)

1. A side view of the West Lake in Hangzhou. Till now, I am still fascinated by the beautiful scenery there.

2. Spotted a red leaves tree near West Lake. How I wished I could see more colorful tree leaves. (Next trip...)

3. A clean empty street around Hangzhou. I spotted a row of yellow/brown beautiful trees and they are dropping leaves too. I find this picture gave me a very relax feeling.

4. One of a villages in Hangzhou. I guess this is an old village.

4. Another view of a village that I passed by. I somehow like to see others' peoples lives in other countries. Just like us, when we are back home, struggling to meet ends needs.

5. The bustling but clean city of Hangzhou. I am impressed with the developments and nice cars over there. The buildings are huge !

6. Finally witnessing a young girl on bikes ... I used to think there are a lot of bicycles there, maybe in the past.

7. A path in between two shopping malls in Yiwu. It was so clean and somehow I like the walking pavement. It looks ancient. 

8. A bustling evening in Suzhou, where there was a mixed of old and new buildings,
 
9. Nice scenery of the Venice of the east which is Suzhou. Canals are everywhere here!!

10. Another night scenery of the lovely Suzhou.

11. You may be wondering what is this ... or was it a shopping mall ? No, it's actually a R&R at the highway, where the coach stop by for us to relieve ourselves as well as get some snacks. It was a massive R&R and there are a few of them at the long highways.  It was cold....getting down there! 

12. I can't forget the memorable Dong Po meat in Bamboo casing ... yummy ... 
That's all for Part 1! Weekend is near, have a good one! :)

1.3.16

I realised I have taken lots of photos using my phone, besides those you guys saw in my blog which were taken using my camera. Thus, I was contemplating whether should I blog out these pictures which, shows 'the other' side of the trip. OK la.. since I don't have much to write lately, I thought let's create a pictorial blog this week. Hahahaha... Let's call this an encore of my recent trip...muahahahaha...

 Although our flight was schedule to depart at 6pm, we have to assemble at the tour agency's HQ in JB by 8am. Luckily it was just a 15 mins drive from our place compared to those who came miles away from Segamat, Kluang and etc.  The check-in time is around 2.30pm.  We took their coach to Changi Airport.

My little princess posing for me in the coach

While I selfie with my kid 
We were quite free and also bored at the airport, having to wait so long thus more picture taking, after check-in to the departure hall. It was around Xmas then and the decor was nice.

Another one with my kid

Family portrait
 Finally, the wait was over and after an extremely stringent check at the airport, which I really appreciated it for safety purpose, we were on board the JetstarAsia, which is a budget airline. It was drizzling then while we experienced a few turbulence after taking off shortly.

Waiting to depart to Hangzhou At Changi Airport
 My kid was interested in those in-flight shopping catalogue and he eyed a model-scale of the plane we are taking. I told I get it for him on the return trip, which I did. He then check out the menu and got himself a teriyaki chicken rice. I got some sandwiches where I shared with my little princess, as well as nasi lemak for my wifey and a cup of Bon-Cafe kopi.

His pack of Teriyaki chicken which he said it's delicious...LOL

I bet he was hungry ...though dinner taken.
 Since we can't really sleep in the early evening , I luckily downloaded some movies and we watched ant-man , played some games on our phone as well as took some short naps. And, before we knew it, though my kid complaint of the 'long' journey, we finally reached Hangzhou International Airport at around 11pm. It was also raining too and it was so cold.
Reaching the quiet airport , at the flyway

Due to the rain, the pixs are kinda blur 

Spotted a scoot here clearly next to us.
 We quickly got our sweater and jackets up in the airport before going out of the airport in a climate from 3-5 celsius that night. Then, it was about a 45 minutes ride to the 4-star hotel in Hangzhou. The hotel was not that impressive as well as slow wi-fi but we were already tired. We also needed to unpack and remind ourselves to get some sleep as we needed to wake up early at 7am for breakfast and start our itinerary. Most of us probably slept 5 hours and we did nap a lot in the coach the next day.

The hotel room which I shared with my kid.

Checking out the toilet ... 

Before I left for the trip, I did have a nice meal with my colleagues at the Hollandse Club in Singapore. It was a club which the Dutch patronised and somehow my colleague has membership, I guess it belongs to his wife's company.
I had a refreshing Apple Cider

And some corn beef set 
OK, Part 2 in the next post... mostly pictures and different from I have blogged before.

 Have a good week!