Well Jess, kudos to you cos you egged me into it! =)

Well well... a slush of updates since... YES I KNOW, MY LAST UPDATE WAS IN APRIL

Much has happened since then of course, I don't know whether to start on the oldest news? Doubt I can remember much tho... well I'll give it a try anyways.

Let's start with April... Well since Silas left to his full-time job, things have been hectic for me... like crazy hectic. Unfortunately, till now I haven't found another pair of hands... and likely won't for some time, due to a change in direction for my co.

Well besides that it's been busy busy, work work work, busy busy busy, well you get the picture. I'll skip all the boring stuff.

Jun

Well there was the Japan trip I missed for the sake of a Decor La Vie event... no regrets but well it's really quite a waste. Jf was on a co. business trip, and got a posh apartment to herself in Roppongi facing Tokyo Towers... *&#^&$(^#$% ok yes I am a little sour but no choice, work comes first.

Oh did I mention nice?

Urgh... the ticket was only 600 bucks... urgh.... can't... hold.. it... any longer... *brain explodes*

Yes, I'm a sourpuss but I think it's evident why.

Jun/Jul

And then... well yes in End June we made a trip to Shanghai to visit Jiefang's 3rd Aunt & Uncle (who were here in sg and I played tourguide to them before), but the most important task of the trip was to get her Cheongsam & Wedding Gown dealt with. Well... suffice to say that we picked a top-of-the-range gown (when compared with local prices) from Suzhou's wedding gown village, and it's still much much cheaper than an average gown in sg.

Oh yes, and her Cheongsam is #&^%^R# expensive can... but well value for $ I hope cos the shop is reputed as the shop which made Maggie Cheung's Cheongsams from the film 花样年华...

Let the pictures speak for themselves! =)

The old sifu who's still active in the shop at 93 years

That's not her actual Cheongsam but a sample.. but you can see the worksmanship from the cutting. The joke? well to make the cheongsam we had to make 3 trips for measurement. The 3rd trip, one of the shopowners said "oh, you're from Singapore? your government's 'Hsien Loong' comes her often to make suits!" *stunned*

Ok maybe we did go a bit too far on the Cheongsam.

@ Changi Airport Terminal 3

Fantastic-tasting 小笼包 for... *drum roll*.... 4RMB for 8.
That's equal to $0.10 for 1. And it tastes better than 鼎泰丰

Extremely rare pic if you know Jiefang, it's difficult for her to get close to animals as even hamsters freak her out. Apparently, she has known the cat since she was a kitten, during her last visit more than 10 years ago... then a kitten, now a (very lazy) old cat.

南翔馒头

A really really old 小笼包 shop with hundreds of years of history, with practically nothing on the menu besides 小笼包 and 蛋花汤.... and imagine they have endless cues with just 2 dishes. It's set in the middle of 豫园, a tourist attraction in Shanghai. Maybe cos it's in a tourist district, the prices aren't that cheap either... but the 小笼包 was good and worth every cent.

粉圆, another signature delicacy at 豫园

Arriving at 苏州 train station on Day 3

Delicious looking 杨梅, and the seller who was game enough to pose for a shot =)

Green Bean Soup

If you're thinking WTF you're exactly right. That's what I thought when it was served. This must be the worst green bean soup ever... there's green beans and red dates and sugar water was poured into the goop from a flask... so obscenely bad, we couldn't even take one mouthful. One of the not-so-great experiences.

Our goal for going to Suzhou was to visit the gown village...too many pics so I'll only post one.

This is the shop Jf bought her gown from... pretty posh eh? The gown looks great! But... wifey wants to keep both the gown and Cheongsam under wraps until the actual day... not even her closest buddies have seen it yet... lol

After a very fruitful trip, we had dinner at:

松鹤楼

Which has been around since the time of 乾隆, since 1757... that's friggin 252 years!!

The elegant 豆腐汤

The most memorable dish, 油灼鳝鱼片

Seared with hot cooking oil right after being served. Absolutely delicious.

松鼠鱼

Looks familiar? Of course, it's very popular in sg... but nothing beats the authentic one. Fresh and crisps, unlike sg versions which are often over-fried.

And my shoe started talking after dinner. ^_^|||

Next morning, we randomly signed up for a one-day group tour to 周庄, one of a few legendary river villages in China.

The famous 钥匙桥, part of the imagery is
contributed by the reflection of the bridge.

And one of the historical events which made the place famous.

An artist just sitting around painting the scenery.

A relative of puffers, found in the area. Well... cited to have numerous health benefits, but mostly dubious claims... and actually it didn't taste great either, despite being not particularly cheap. HYPE ALERT!!

And it was back to Shanghai... Day 6 was spent touring Central Park.

Pidgeons galore

Identity Crisis Pidgeon (thinks he's a chicken)

@ City Plannign Museum

A scale model of Shanghai at the Shanghai City Planning Museum! I like! much like the URA exhibit of Sg's City area. Love these scale exhibits.

A ridiculously funny souvenir sold at the planning museum: Basically a panda demonstrating the 24 strokes of Tai Chi, 太极二十四式... ROFL

Nanking Road, a famous tourist shopping district touted to be Shanghai's 西门町...but well... I beg to differ. Not a very happening street really, with big name brands you can find in any city in the world.

Night Shot of the Bund, aka 上海外滩

Oh yes, and did I mention Jf bought a new cam in Japan? The Ixus 110 is crazy... I call it the "Idiot's Camera"... if you want to change settings you can, but the auto is seriously smart... point and click and you get decent shots whether it's day or night.

Iconic Jin Mao Tower (金茂大厦)

Is it just me or does it bear some resemblance to the tower of Mordor??

And its neighbour, Shanghai World Financial Centre (上海环球金融中心)

And the last night before we were leaving, 3rd Uncle & Aunt + cousins et all prepared a nice spread for us.

The unique delicacy is on the right of the pic, little lobsters, a delicacy that has caught on in recent years in Shanghai. Delicious!

And one last shot of Ms Cool Cat before we left... wonder when we'll see her again?

Jul

Jasmine's baby Alecia's first month!


Well I lurbsch the baby to bits, she's damn cute la can! Anyway my wife can see me oozing with paternal urge, craving to be a dad LOL. I don't deny that but...ahem... first things first.

Aug

One of the more exciting events was me joining an interior design firm as a complete 新手 , learning things from ground up... and not I'm not exactly an employee, nor exactly management. It's complicated.. LOL

Anyway closed my first job in August, well yes I'm shamelessly claiming credit despite having done nothing besides closing the deal. COME ON... gimme a break I practically know nuts about interior design can (still learning)?? Closing the deal was difficult enough already... Anyways, the shop's launching this Saturday 12pm-5pm, Mike & Xiaowan have already seen the place, it's at Cathay Orchard, 2nd floor, beside Ben & Jerry's...

Totally Hot Stuff

They've got all sorts of unique stuff up for sale, so do swing by and you might find something you like =) Oh yes my stars from Decor La Vie are also being sold there, along with our new products, the Shadow Light.

Oct

Unfortunately, we're sort-of evicted. Well not exactly, but sort of. Landlady's supposed to be sent to US till 2011, and our flat would have been ready then... but... well her mum just got very sick. And it's no small illness, so she's quitting her job and coming back to take care of her mum.

So, sadly, we've to move earlier than expected. And while we love the place, we can't really complain... family and health take higher priority, our problems are small in light of the Landlady's.

Fortunately, we've found a place... and a pretty nice one at that: Atrium Residences




Well.

What can I say. Truth be told, I feel like a sucker. One look at the pool and I was sold.

The pros: We pay the same as we do for Bishan, but transport is supposed to be much more convenient than back in Bishan. And there's a pool, and a gym, bbq pits, tennis courts, the whole works of a condo.

The cons: We pay the same as we do for Bishan, but we are renting a common room and sharing the living room with others when we used to have it to ourselves. And... well... it's in Geylang. Nuff said.

Well we don't know if it's a good or bad choice, but well I've got Mike & Sheen already staying 5-10 min walk away, so hopefully they can help bolster the transition. Let's just wait and see how things work out.

Time to carry on with my packing... have accumulated quite a bit of junk over the last few years... *sigh* time to say goodbye to the nice Bishan flat which was my home for the past few years.

Today!

Amidst mundane programming, found this ridiculous read:

A Satirical piece by a Robotics PhD... the things people do with their time... lol... and the idiots like me who order such books from Amazon. -___-|||

And another title by the same author:

And similar books recommended by Amazon:






Time to get down to ordering & reading!


And yes, I know, don't complain about the length.. .what started as a short post ended up as a 3-hour-long post... LOL when it rains, it pours.

Till next time!