Tuesday, January 27, 2009
6:01 AM

seeing is believing..

partially submerged playground anybody?

and this is how I got to work!

haha. off with the shoes and socks! not a bad idea reli.. juz that the water was soooo cold I was convinced my toes would go numb and fall off. paddling barefooted with my pants halfway up. how unglam is that?! desperate times call for desparate measures eh.

oh well.. juz hoping that the wkend comes sooner.. that the flood subsides.. that the wind will blow all the rain clouds away.

every day that the sun rises, shall be a happy day =)


~gone in a moment..

Monday, January 26, 2009
5:29 AM

..You fill my life with endless wonders..


~gone in a moment..

happy chinese new year!
5:04 AM

met up with the stevenage ppl on sat for our CNY dim sum feast! the food and company were fabulous =) but we over-ordered and ended up too stuffed. could hardly move after that. we ate till we were EXHAUSTED from eating! how ridiculous is that??

piles and piles of dimsum..

met up with Kelvin and Mingzhen after that for dinner (yeh.. i actually managed to digest all that dimsum from lunch). havent seen them both in 4 years! apparently alot of hwachong ppl are in the UK..

watched Les Miserables. we wanted to watch Wicked actually.. but the tickets were sold out so Kelvin bought Les Miserables instead. oh well.. it was a great musical all the same. great coordination.. effects.. cast.. but somehow it didnt blow me away. thot Phantom was much better.


it's CNY eve today.. and the Stevenage ppl are having CNY reunion dinner - steamboat! but I can't go coz it's too far. won't be able to get back in time for work tmr. arghhhh. everyone's got a CNY reunion dinner to go to except me! gotta cook my own pasta and mope with chocolates. haha. when all else fails there's still chocolates eh.

been raining the entire day! gotta get my wet suit ready and swim to work tmr. oh yay. how exciting.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR everybody! =)

Lots of love all the way from flooded Tonbridge!


~gone in a moment..

Saturday, January 24, 2009
Cry me a RIVER
6:36 AM

it's true that you haven't experienced rain till you came to UK.

and you haven't experienced flood till you came to Tonbridge.

behold the wonders of nature!

the flood waters got so high.. cars stalled.. roads closed.
there's traffic pile up everywhere!

I cycled underwater today. amazing feat.
The river burst its banks and ALL the soccer fields merged into a massive lake.

Top it up with strong blasting winds.. and you find yourself staring at China's Huang He.

It felt so surreal!

Would have appreciated the beauty of being able to stand RIGHT in the middle of a massive body of water (with delirious ducks floating around??!!).. if I weren't soaked to my knees in icy cold icky flood water.

and everybody says.. welcome to England =)

p/s: my colleague said that he saw people KAYAKING in the fields a few yrs ago when there was massive flooding. I dun even want to think about it.


~gone in a moment..

Friday, January 23, 2009
5:16 AM

know that it's impossible yet I still persist. what on earth is wrong with me?
.
.
.
why is it that the rain never cease.


~gone in a moment..

Tuesday, January 20, 2009
York Wkend!
5:20 AM

Visited York with the Stevenage girls last wkend. It's a horrendous 4hrs train ride EACH way!

Glad I went anyway.. york was reli pretty =) It's apparently one of the oldest cities in UK.. and was once populated by the Vikings.

The streets of York had a kind of nice Victorian vibe to it..quaint shophouses lining pebbled/bricked pedestrian footpaths..

everywhere was bustling with life and activity, loads of shops and bakeries as well! hoho. It's any shopaholic (or glutton's) dream come true =)

The famous Yorkshire Fat Rascals! (it is a kind of scone i think.. with loads of fruits in it.) - FABULOUS!!

and buttery scones!!

HUGE fluffy furry white polar bear! ( i mean dog) - compare its size with the ladies. it. is. HUGE.

Btw, the dogs here are all GIGANTIC!! we saw a black dog and all of us mistook it for a bear!! so not exaggerating. think they're all prepared for winter..
Pianist right smack in the middle of nowhere

They had a few teddy bear, Peter Rabbit, Paddington shops as well..

and MIFFY!! - took this for you =)


visited Jorvik Viking Centre (about Vikings who used to live there many hundred yrs ago), the York Minster and York Castle Museum..
Majestic York Minster (we climbed all the way up! no spectacular views though.. juz a mass of roof tops if you ask me)

York Castle Museum was awesome! they had this street that was reconstructed just like the way it used to be in the Victorian times.. complete with Victorian shops and stuff. As you walked thru the streets.. daylight will soon give way to nightfall... and there was simulated rain as well.. reli impressive.


Here're the remains of castle walls surrounding the York City Centre.. kinda like the mini version of Great Wall of China. =P

ooh. lastly.. the Yorkshire terrier =)


~gone in a moment..

Saturday, January 17, 2009
dinner at dimT
5:55 AM

there were loads of restaurant vouchers circulating around recently, so Sylvia, Cara and I decided to have dinner at dimT on Wed nite. dimT's an Asian restaurant.. supposedly Jap, Thai, Chinese fusion food. SUPPOSEDLY. good grace. some fusion that is. the menu looks super enticing of coz.. but wait till the food arrives.. haha

anyway, we had prawn crackers for starters.. (it's our keropok). we had some suspicious looking steamed dumpling too. supposed to be "har-gao". but it's seriously not worth mentioning. tastes like rubber.

here's my teriyaki salmon with Jap rice noodle. and this is how it looks like!! more like peas fried hor fun with lots of oil eh. haha
i dun even want to describe how that tastes like. I can cook better. seriously.

the saving grace's the dessert! banana fritters (our goreng pisang) with ice cream + choc sauce!

wat's reli hilarious was that when Cara asked the (extremely sulky) waitress what dishes she'll recommend, the waitress said "I have no idea. I hate dim sum. They taste horrible."
haha! that should have warned us eh. oh well. What matters most is the company. Had a fabulous time with my housemates all the same. =)
Btw, juz in case u're wondering, Stuart's missing in action coz he's still on a diet. He claims that I'm on a diet as well.. A see-food diet. I eat EVERYTHING I see. yeh. how original.

p/s: dimT juz put up a notice that they're closing down this wkend! maybe that explains the sulky waitress and horrendous food.


~gone in a moment..

Sunday, January 11, 2009
frozen lakes, frozen branches, frozen week
6:27 PM

It's been so so cold the whole of last week! -10 deg celcius at night! exciting eh.
anyway, everywhere's frozen!! walked ard the lake during lunch time with Phil.. and we were rewarded with amazing views..
a million and one ducks/goose/birds/ dunno what they are - skating on ice!! haha. it was reli fun to watch coz their webbed feet were slipping all over the ice while they're trying to walk across it to the non-frozen parts.




one of the plus points of working at an ulu countryside I guess. u have the opportunity to be constantly awed by the wonders of nature =)
it's gonna be warmer and rainy next wk. so not looking forward to it. i would rather freeze my ass (& nose & ears) off then having to cycle in the rain anytime.


~gone in a moment..

Monday, January 5, 2009
xmas holiday trip!
4:36 AM

it's been 2 weeks of travelling, non-stop feasting and loads of fun that I reli dread going back to work tomorrow.. (i've been eating so much that i'm now round and pudgy and i fear i won't be able to cycle up the slope anymore) but one gotta face up to reality and stop dreaming eh.

anyway.. there's way too much stuff to blog about.. so here's juz some of the highlights!

1) Haoz arrived!! =) - with all the singapore food and presents from sisters in tow of coz. yippee!

brought him ard london.. then we went for a mini road trip along the southern coast of UK.

the southern coast..


the beautiful Seven Sisters..




we visited Rochester as well.. Rochester Castle..

old traditional buildings along Rochester High Street

and how can we miss their fabulous traditional PUB food!!

i became the pub's sauce-spokesperson for the day.

ooh i finally got to visit Arsenal Emirates Stadium!! we went for the stadium tour and it was simply amazing! we got to see the player's changing rooms.. their own spa and stuff..



flew off to Berlin for our Europe trip on 26th Dec!
Berlin is reli awesome.. nice city with a rich history.. (not to mention the many xmas markets with GREAT food!! - we couldnt pronounce the names of the food we wanted so we kind of juz pointed and paid. haha)


my braised pork knuckle!!!!!!!!!! so soft and fragrant.. hoho


xmas market light up - Gendardenmarkt

famous currywurst!

anyway, can't upload all the glorious food photos.. but let's just say that any german xmas market is a glutton's dream come true!

after that it was on to Hamburg! feel that Hamburg's not as nice as Berlin.. maybe coz it's less touristy and more of a financial hub kinda place.. anyway, Hamburg's got a busy port and that means loads of sea food! haha. yeh.. food again, i noe. they have all kinds of weird looking fishes and fishy sandiwches..


famous lake in the middle of Hamburg.

after that it was Netherlands- Amsterdam! Amsterdam's reli one of a kind.. narrow skinny houses alongside its million and one rivers, trams running all over the city, bicycles parked all over the place, coffee shops selling cannabis.. and even more fascinating is the Red Light District.. near-naked women with impossibly huge boobs posing & pouting in glass window displays. interesting to watch.. but reli.. if u think about it seriously.. feels kind of sick..


there are boat-houses as well.. ppl who live on the river itself. our boat was cruising thru the river and this family who was lunching waved at us thru their window from their boat-house! haha. fascinating.


and look! on my birthday.. (art on van says ex-porn star) hmmm...

alright.. finally.. it's BELGIUM!! went Antwerp and Brussels..
I absoultely LOVE belgium! yeh.. u guessed it.. for their waffles and fries and chocolates. haha. but brussels's a reli nice place.. very very pretty as well.. wonderful architecture, nice friendly ppl..









yup.. reli too lazy to upload the rest.
it was a great trip nonetheless. got back yesterday and was greeted with a severely deflated rear bicycle tyre. woohoo. wat's new. Sylvia helped me get it to the bike shop in town centre to get it fixed. 20 pounds! just as well. enough to make me feel reli broke and maybe make me stop buying so much junk.
time to stop feasting and get fit enough to do the tedious cycling routine again.
oh yay.
Happy 2009 everybody!!


~gone in a moment..

ME~
23 yr old fresh grad from NTU (beginning to go stale)... stuck in the mad world of elites. perpetually tanned w/o even trying; nonsensical; prone to mood swings; yet highly lovable when asleep.

AgaPe
♥ I adore FOOD!!=)
♥ love adventure sports, travelling ard the world, experiencing the unexperienced.
♥ my beloved family & chumchum.
♥ dreams to be a doctor.. or a food critic!!

I have ZERO tolerance for:
(1) disgusting house lizards!,
(2) fishball noodles,
(3) cycling up monstrous slopes (this will stay here for the next 16mths of my stay in UK)

Let me hear u SAY...

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alex
roomie
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all time best bud - PK
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