i couldn't sleep because i saw something fishy on beakee's etsy site

me: tudi, i logged in specially to ask you something...

tudi: yes shifu?

me: did you get something from beakee's etsy shop as my birthday presents?

tudi: uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..............

me: many items i like in her shop are gone! how can be so qiao? so many gone at the same time? and all recently?

tudi: actually we got 4 things..........

me: haha i just had to ask even though i think i knew it already

tudi: cha0 shifu. but 1 is we xin xue lai chao buy de so you won't guess it

me: hehe i done asking liao. can go sleep liao. haha

tudi: so now smelly shifu can go sleep peacefully le ma?

me: ya. haha. nite nite!

tudi: nite nite!!!


ps: my guess is the spangle and/or cherry ripe and/or grunge twirl but not 100% sure. will wait for the parcel's arrival to confirm. tudi, i is sharp one. hehe. sorry to spoil the surprise factor, but but but i just couldn't sleep without asking!!!

johannesburg: shumba valley lodge

After spending about 14 hours in the air, I finally touched down at OR Tambo Airport, Johannesburg. I really shouldn't complain about the long flight because I was upgraded to business class due to some union strike drama during check-in at Sydney Airport that almost left me offloaded from the aircraft. Compared to the guys, I had it a lot easier, at least I could wriggle and squirm and do kungfu moves in my seat, haha.

First impressions upon touch down - brown; dusty; noisy; smell of burnt stuff everywhere; dry.




Proceeded to pick up our hired car - a hot chilli red ford focus. I had forgotten I was travelling with 3 big guys so the car I pre-booked was a squeeze for us (and the luggage!). It would have been comfy if they were slim like me.




Shumba Valley Lodge was our sleeping place for the whole 5 nights of our trip there. We each stayed in a traditional standalone 'kraal' - spacious straw thatched roof huts. The kraal I slept in was kept warm and cosy by the friendly housekeeping lady who will faithfully leave the heater on just before I come back from work each evening. The people there were nice, the breakfasts were fantastic, the area secure (with electric fencing all around the compound) and all for only about AUD125 a night. Here are several shots I took of the lodge:

Driveway through the main reception




Lounge area at reception






The bar area




The fireplace in the bar with heaps of firewood stacked up




Pool and outdoor dining area




Pathway leading to the kraals




Rows of kraals




And this is mine!




And it's a giraffe unit 111!




Just writing an entry on the nice little place we stayed in has sapped all my energy. I am STILL jetlagged. Think my body clock is in a mess. Just when it's tuned itself to the Joburg timezone, I had to fly back and it is utterly confused as to where exactly it is and what time of the day it is now. So I shall continue my Joburg adventures in separate entries another time. [Updated on 12/7/08: These have been posted here and here.]

another surprise today

I was totally engrossed in rushing out a report for my Joburg trip that when I heard singing voices behind me, I didn't realise until a few seconds later, that the girls were singing the birthday song and marching towards me (and Candice) with a birthday cake and flowers.

It says on the cake, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLS". Mine was 2 days ago and Candice's is tomorrow.




This is a puffy faced me holding my big-ass card and glittery bouquet of flowers.




Candice's bouquet has a butterfly on it!




A photo with the prim and proper boys:




And one with the cheeky girls:




It was a sweet sweet surprise for the still-jetlagged-and-couldn't-focus-much-at-work me.

A report on the loot:

1. I collected my first parcel from the post office today and it was something from flyaway! A cool cap (she says I look good in caps), a card and a 护身符 from the 四马路观音庙. I think the 护身符 is a very heartwarming gift cos it reminds me of my mum - keep Jac safe at all times.

2. Deathnote part 3 DVD from 3 funky work mates! It was on my wishlist and was only released in Sydney a week ago.

More to come more to come!!!

birthday surprises

I received 2 surprise birthday celebrations in the last few days.

The Rex contingent I went to Johannesburg with - Chris the big brother, Leon the big bear and John the sweet talker - decided to reward ourselves for the hard work we put in for the week by having a nice dinner on our last night in the very nice Shumba Valley Lodge we stayed in.

Then when the time came for us to order desserts, a waiter appeared out of nowhere with a birthday cake and suddenly all the guys sprang into song at the top of their voices. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." I was pleasantly surprised. To think I was even contemplating skipping dinner cos I was exhausted from working til late for consecutive days. I was glad I made the effort to stay awake for our last dinner in South Africa. I even broke my self-imposed no-alcohol-during-entire-work-trip rule to have a few drinks with the boys to celebrate the occasion although it was several days in advance of the actual day. I really appreciate their thoughts and effort.

When I got back to Sydney on the 5th, I was picked up at the airport and zipped off to some nice restaurant for dinner by the beach and another surprise birthday cake complete with a bouquet of flowers at the stroke of midnight. I was quite blown away although I may have been too tired from the long haul flight to express my delight at the surprise.

All the emails, comments, IM messages and smses I received from all over the world show that there are so many who remember, who care. I have not checked my letterbox but I know there are collection slips for me to collect my birthday pressies from the post office. How many and what are they and who they are from, I do not know, yet. But I do know tudi's parcel will be late in arriving. I can't wait to unwrap and discover all these little surprises.

Guys, here's a great big thank you for all the wishes. Even a simple message means the world to me, especially when I'm away from all those I love and who love me. I miss all of you so so so much.

jetlagged, birthday & depressing news

I got back to Sydney from Johannesburg last night. Today is my birthday. Still recovering from jetlag, I received very depressing news from lambchop this afternoon.

Initially I thought it was some kind of joke or prank. But then nobody will joke over the life of their good friends. It was a sailing accident. After getting over the initial shock of the news, I sent off a couple of smses to tudi and BH. I didn't call BH cos I know if I did, both of us would have cried. The entire day, I couldn't stop thinking back to the times we spent together. BH, Kimi Vin and I used to be a set.




We would sit in a coffeeshop til late and talk about silly things about cooking half boiled eggs and jogging vs taking the bus to the zoo. He also played an active role in Project Femininise Me, offering valuable advice on how I can behave more ladylike. When BH was interning in my previous company, we got bored and together with Vin, did silly doodles on MSN. Below was a comic strip by Vin on MSN.









I miss his idiotic greetings on MSN already. And I will never be able to go binge on prata at the Prata House in Thomson with him ever again. I really regret not meeting up with him on my last visit back to Singapore, thinking that it was ok, we can always meet the next time. But there will never be a next time now.