10 day sg bintan stint

I took a 10-day break from work in mid August and went back home to be near familiar faces and places. Here's the view out from my window seat in the Boeing 747 aircraft looking out onto the Melbourne Airport tarmac on a rainy afternoon. (My departure port was Melbourne instead of Sydney because I had to be there for work that morning.) The gloomy weather made me doubt my decision to head home at such short notice. Then I saw that rainbow peeping out through the layers of dark storm clouds and told myself that must be a sign for me to relax and look forward to a colourful trip home.



I caught up a little with an ex-form-teacher-turned-good-friend upon my arrival at Changi Airport and spent the whole of day two in SG pampering myself with manicure, hair-do and brazilian sessions with my favourite Tudi before catching a really heartwarming animation movie UP in 3D, then rushing off to a wild night out with the girlies at Zouk.

Days three and four saw me relaxing and practically doing nothing much in Bintan. I did lots of sleeping though and had a great 90 minute whole body massage that relieved the years of knots in every muscle of the body. Below is a series of shots taken in Bintan. Not many pictures as I wasn't really in the mood for photography but I do like the few snaps I managed to capture.









It poured just before I left the resort. I welcomed the cool drops of rain after having experienced a sunburnt afternoon just the day before.

Once back in SG again, I took a stroll along the now alien Orchard Road. How it has changed in just 6 months! Singapore is changing at an alarming rate. I guess I will need to do more frequent short trips home just to keep abreast with the changes.



The new ION that seems to be everybody's choice destination now to see and to be seen.



For me, the crowds give me headaches so I'd rather stay away. I much prefer staying home with my loved ones including Xiao Xiao Bai who's all grown up now - see below. Here's how she looked when she was a baby.



I did some catching up with Angel J over some one-for-one Stella Artois right smack in Orchard Road. Here's a shot of what we reckon to be a good commercial pic for the beer, complete with the essential boobies.



These are of Angel J doing the slutty poses with my big retro shades.



And the dreamy-gal-next-door me in a pair of 'Happy Birthday' cartoon shades.



And this is what Angel C calls the 'Powers Combined' picture where all three of us got together for some sinful indulgence at P.S. Cafe in Dempsey.





Woooo.... I like my tan in this pic below.



Towards the end of my short stint back home, I managed to spend some time with the monkey cousin who played dress up with me. I was her audience as she paraded in her Cinderella dress, cheongsam, platform heels, ultra mini skirts and even her Kindergarten uniform although I didn't manage to capture all of the costumes she wore.



Then these last few shots were taken at the airport just prior to my boarding the plane bound for Sydney. Mr P was the last person to see me walk through the departure gates.





All in all, it was a good 10 days away from work. I had some quality time together with my Mum, Ex-Teacher-turned-friend, Fav Tudi, Lambchop and Rae too but we were too caught up with catching up and forgot about taking photos. Now I'm all recharged to survive another 6 months of madness before I head back for some familial-and-friendly-love therapy again.

project 'chio'

Project P came to a stall for some reason and never got resurrected. A recent event triggered the birth of Project Chio and I am working to keep the momentum to:

- eat healthier
- sleep better
- get outdoors more
- generally love myself more

One Saturday night, I put on a little black dress, spiced it up with a glittery scarf, fishnet stockings and knee high boots (partly due to the cold spring night), made up the face a bit, and went to paint the town red. I was quite overwhelmed by the attention I drew. I was also most flattered that I got chatted up by a charismatic lady with an extremely toned body - I was so tempted to go home with her (?!?!). It was a real confidence booster for me.

I think the photos above show a very radiant me. The glow is partly due to the short break I gave myself on an impulse, and it really took the fatigue off me.

I hope this Project Chio can help shed a few years off the face and a few kilos off the body in time for some hot summer beaching and for my next trip to SG via Bali in 6 months time.

ps: Beakee, you'll see I have your Silver Grey Drops on if you click to enlarge the pics. Love them!

shadows of spring

The spring leaves outside my windows cast warm fuzzy shadows on the bedroom walls in the evening light. The heart flutters.

through the eyes of the tiger

While enjoying my Tigers on Singapore's special day, I snapped away unabashedly and look what nice pictures I took in my semi drunken state!



The world seems smaller but clearer once you've had a beer. Yes?



I particularly love how the glass door throws multiple reflections at you whenever something / someone passes by. Isn't this how the world looks like after a few beers? Check out the lady with a blue headband - I think she looks way cool.



I couldn't help but take more shots of the lady with blue headband. I then did a random tilt of my quite-heavy-after-five-beers head and caught the doors ajar scene without thinking.



Do two halves make a full schooner? And thus we ended a great tiger evening at Bank Lounge.

tiger day

I'm a bit embarrassed that this entry is about a month late, but hey, better late than never.

Although I didn't say the national pledge with the rest of the Singaporean population at 8.22pm on National Day, I wore the national colours and headed to Bank Hotel in Newtown for some Tiger beer in commemoration of my home country's 44th birthday.

Check out my new chio chio Crumpler camera bag by my side!

Cheers!