Say Bye-bye to the super cramped coffee table Say Hello to a proper desk with shelf
Say Bye-bye to the little wardrobe Say Hello to the gigantic (by my standard) built-in wardrobe btw, that's all the clothes I have.
Say Bye-bye to sleeping on a tilam on the floor Say Hello to a queen-size bed with storage bed-frame
After weeks of painting & tidying, I finally move into my new home. But the living room is still empty though. Need some time for my wallet to recover 1st. =)
Just got back from Pulau Besar after a Singapore National Day long weekend trip And the first thing I see on my FaceBook page is the striking red 99 notification alert against the blue background on top bar Was quite shocked to see that, yet touched to see my profile page being flooded with them. =)
But all jokes aside, this is the reality that is haunting the people of Zimbabwe. Political turmoil and hyperinflation rapidly eroded the value of the Zimbabwean dollar, making it one of the least valued currency units in the world. In January 2009, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe permitted the use of foreign currency in Zimbabwe. (times) On 2 February 2009, Zimbabwe slashed 12 zeros from its currency as hyperinflation continued to erode its value. (cnn.com) And on 12 April 2009, the Zimbabwe dollar was eventually abandoned as an official currency. The government now uses the South African Rand and the United States Dollar. (bbc.co.uk)
To know how much the re-valued Zimbabwean Dollar (ZWD) is worth in your own currency, click HERE (xe.com).
This is how we Kuchingnites celebrate our Chinese New Year.
Every year we are surrounded by fireworks, and we can really watch them in close proximity, not to mention lighting up the fuse of the 烟花 & 炮竹ourselves. =) And now you know why we don't really bother going out to watch New Year/NDP/whatever-celebration fireworks in S'pore.
Though it may be a bit late.
Happy Chinese New Year! may you all have a prosperous year ahead
We went to celebrate at Empire State at Iluma. Rather nice place, with very friendly waiter/waitress, delightful ambiance...
And most importantly GOOD FOOD!! at reasonable price.
We ordered a Crab-fat Prawn Spaghetti, their House Burger, a Sizzling Brownie. The burger really come in a big portion with authentic freshly cooked beef patty (not your normal McDonald factory manufactured patty). I'm not someone who is picky about pasta, so I cant really comment on it, but it tasted good with fresh prawns. The walnut brownie served with warm, fudgy, rich, gooey, sinful chocolate and a mandatory scoop of vanilla ice-cream makes it truly an indulgent dessert. Yum... Yum... Above all that, the light-hearted menu, with funny quotes as ''The only time I go on a diet is while I'm waiting for the pasta to be served," and the many 'Did you know...' corner really keep us entertained while waiting for the food to be served.
Now I know why there is no 'HAM' in HAMburger. It's 'cos the term "Hamburger" is derived from Hamburg (a city in Germany). And not some burger with ham! (read the 'Did you know...' at the lower left corner)
For those who still cant link the Empire State Building with a gorilla, maybe this picture will help. The scene of King Kong (1933 or Peter Jackson's 2005 version) climbing up the Empire State Building, fending off some biplanes, and later fell off to his death is a classic in movie history.
Had a very occupied Chinese New Year indeed this time.
21 Jan 2009 (Wed) Night: Gathering with Kane, Kyle, Chiau Fang & Tze Phin in Ria Ayam Penget, Lucky Plaza.
22 Jan 2009 (Thu) Night: X8 Steamboat gathering at 川一品, Bugis. p/s: if you like authentic steamboat, dun go here, cos the soup dun even boil... -_-||| but if you like meat more than anything, they have the freshest* meat I have ever eaten from a steamboat shop. freshly sliced from a frozen meat block in front of you.
* by steamboat standard
Midnight: Gathering with those in KE7 at My room @E713 I miss the 年糕 (but i dun miss the BOWL). and had consulted my mum how to prepare them such that the egg will stick to the 年糕. let's do it again
23 Jan 2009 (Fri) Night: Fly back Kuching, flight delayed, reach Kuching too late to do anything.
24 Jan 2009 (Sat) Night: Greenians gathering at Sidewalk. Definitely the biggest gathering so far. We occupied almost half the cafe. Nice to see friends coming back from all over the globe, UK, Australia, etc.. 25 Jan 2009 (Sun) Reunion Dinner gathering of my relatives at my 大舅's house. Nice food, nice company, nice talk, just what I yearn most 26 Jan 2009 (Mon) Morning-afternoon: 年初一 大拜年. As always, all close relatives come to my house for visit.
Night: went visiting with Kane, Pao, Tiong to Sai Kwong's place for open house. then to Yan Yi and Jen's house.
27 Jan 2009 (Tue) Morning-afternoon: Went visiting my old Green Road classmates, to catch up on old times...
Taken at Sharon's place
Night: Went to Xiang Ru place to meet up with my 居士林friends.
28 Jan 2009 (Wed) ~Last day in Kuching. Morning-afternoon: Visit Joanne's house with Kane and Geri. After coming to do some final packing, went visiting again to Chia Ching and Ah Guan's place.
Taken at Guan's house
Evening: Caught the 6.40pm flight back to Singapore... Bye Bye~ Kuching...
To my dear friends, Thanks... For sending me b'day wishes through SMSes. Thanks... For dropping me B'day messages in Facebook. Thanks... For celebrating my b'day with me after a tiring Rag Day in SRC, and a long night watching the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony.
" i'm ok, but cannot call out or sms. will be fine kiet help me to inform mom...
huihui"
I was like 'huh??? hmm... maybe send wrong e-mail." ------------------------------------------------------------------ The next morning, I received another offline MSN message from my DAD. "Kan Hua said: There was a 7.8 level earthquake in Chengdu. Luckily your sis is safe Kan Hua said: the earthquake was 100 km away from hui's office Kan Hua said: hui has sms us that she has gone home already"
Now I'm like 'WHAT!!! Earthquake in 成都!!!"
FYI, my sis was posted by her architecture firm in Singapore to 成都(Chengdu) to work on a 杭州(Hangzhou) project. ------------------------------------------------------------------ May 12, 2008
Relief efforts were underway Tuesday, a day after a powerful earthquake struck central China, killing as many as 12,000 people, officials said.
The magnitude 7.9 quake was felt as far away as Vietnam and Thailand. It appears to be the most devastating earthquake to hit China in more than three decades.
At a news conference Tuesday, China's disaster response director, Wang Zhengyao, said that 11,921 people have died so far from the quake centered in Sichuan province. The death toll from the quake is expected to rise even higher, with state media saying thousands are still trapped in collapsed buildings.
Approximately 80 percent of the buildings in Sichuan's Beichuan County were flattened in the quake, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday. A chemical plant in Shifang city also was destroyed, burying hundreds of people and spilling tons of toxic liquid ammonia.
Outside the city of Dujiangyan, at least 50 students were killed and 900 trapped after the three-story Juyuan Middle School collapsed. Buried teenagers could be seen struggling to break loose from under the rubble of the three-story building, while others cried out for help.
There were reports that army-led rescue workers had difficulty accessing the disaster area and were hampered by a lack of equipment. But large cranes outfitted with lights operated into the night to lift massive slabs of masonry, said NPR's Melissa Block, who was at the scene. Ambulances ferried away the survivors.
Dozens of bodies of children were laid out on the ground, waiting for parents to identify them, Block said. Once claimed, the bodies were wrapped in shrouds and brought under plastic tarps. Hundreds of parents waited for hours in the rain for word of their children.
Parents built makeshift shrines and placed the bodies of the dead on pieces of cardboard or plywood as they grieved over the small lifeless forms. Some lighted red candles or burned paper money to send children into the afterlife. Others set off firecrackers to ward off evil spirits. The grim ritual played out by dozens and dozens of families as they kept watch over their babies one last time.
Students also were buried under five other toppled schools in Deyang city.
The earthquake struck in the middle of the day, around 2:28 p.m. local time. People flooded into the streets as the ground shook, and many were trapped in collapsed buildings.
One man said he felt the road start to buckle when the earthquake began. "The road started swaying as I was driving. Rocks fell from the mountains, with dust darkening the sky over the valley," a driver for Sichuan's seismological bureau told Xinhua.
Two girls were quoted as saying they escaped because they had "run faster than others."
In Dujiangyan, 45 miles north of Chengdu, a hospital collapsed with an estimated 100 people, NPR's Robert Siegel reported. Crane crews worked to rescue those trapped. Tents at a Red Cross center were set up to tend to the wounded as they waited for ambulances to take them to other hospitals.
The earthquake crashed telephone networks in Chengdu and plunged parts of the city of 11 million into darkness. Residents slept outside in cars or fled to the suburbs — far from the city's high rises — as more than 300 aftershocks rattled the area throughout the day, according to state-run media.
The devastation comes as China is preparing to host the Olympic Games, which begin in Beijing on Aug. 8.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Upon reading that, I can't stop feeling relieved to see this... Bet she will have a lot of stories to tell when we are back in Singapore. ----------------------------------------------------- ------------- 真是世间无常… 唉…我本来就不是个会去管国家大事世界新闻的人… 只要我阿姐平安就好…
Check out my 表姐, Shareen Png Hui Chuen& her partner, Zyanne Lee Zhien Huey in action in "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 Olympic Games Synchronized Swimming Qualification Tournament.
Duet Technical Routine
Duet Free Routine
What coincidence... First part so 'pirate', second part so 'stadium'...
The tournament ended on 20 April 2008 in the Water Cube, with our Malaysia Team placing #25, just a little bit behind the borderline to squeeze into the final 24 to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games... Nevertheless, I am still very veryVERY proud of her.
虽然这次与奥运擦肩而过，不要紧！敢敢放眼伦敦奥运！ 慧君，加油！！
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am not a sports person, so I will let IOC do the explanation.
Synchronized Swimming It looks like perhaps the most effortless event in the Olympic Games, but there is more to synchronised swimming than what appears on the surface. Besides demanding strength, endurance, flexibility, grace and artistry, it requires exceptional breath control. It is no simple task considering they perform strenuous movements upside down and underwater while holding their breath. [Extracted from International Olympic Committee > Sports > Aquatics > Synchronised Swimming http://www.olympic.org/uk/sports/programme/disciplines_uk.asp?DiscCode=SY]
Check out the number of zeros.
And most importantly GOOD FOOD!!
We ordered a Crab-fat Prawn Spaghetti, their House Burger, a Sizzling Brownie.
Now I know why there is no 'HAM' in HAMburger.
The scene of King Kong (1933 or Peter Jackson's 2005 version) climbing up the Empire State Building, fending off some biplanes, and later fell off to his death is a classic in movie history.
p/s: if you like authentic steamboat, dun go here, cos the soup dun even boil... -_-|||
I miss the 年糕 (but i dun miss the BOWL). and had consulted my mum how to prepare them such that the egg will stick to the 年糕. let's do it again
Taken at Sharon's place
Taken at Guan's house
好奇心促使之下，我们踏进了这家店。
我们坐下之后，‘店小二’拿来一本武林秘籍
无字天书,兵器,小李飞刀,双节棍
竹筒田鸡,蒜炒青菜,馄饨,大力丸
---------------------------------------------
" i'm ok, but cannot call out or sms. will be fine
"Kan Hua said: There was a 7.8 level earthquake in Chengdu. Luckily your sis is safe
Bet she will have a lot of stories to tell when we are back in Singapore.
