Settling in

We're settling in or shall I say, trying to settle in. Maybe it's just me but I've been having this unsettling feeling for days. For some reason, I feel that everyone has taken on a different persona in this new home.

YK's always sprawled on the sofa channel-surfing. SK is sneaking around afraid of getting in his way and I'm just not used to seeing everyone like this.

In the past, SK could wander about in the garden with the dogs in tow. YK was always in his room away from my prying eyes. And I had my usual routines. There were loads to do at the farm house but life in this little apartment is a little too claustrophobic. It has been raining alot lately which means I haven't had a chance to chill out at the patio.

I guess we need a little bit more time to adjust.

Mad about trees

I spent the morning waiting for the contractor to put up some trees on my wall. As if I don't have enough trees in the patio, I have added some in the hall too. Except for some custom-built shelving for the boys' rooms, the house is fully furnished now. It's about time because I am so done with buying stuff and waiting for the delivery guys.

I ordered this motif online a couple of months back and decided to dedicate Saturday morning pasting it on the wall. At one stage, I almost ruined everything. After removing the backing, a strong gust of wind blew in and the stickers got stuck together. I spent hours prying them apart and sorting the leaves out. It was supposed to be really easy peasy but I guess I'm not that crafty afterall :-)

YK's crazy about candles and have them all over the living room. Somehow the apple green goes pretty well with black. The house smells like apples now.

This is SK's room. It's still very bare. We're waiting for the carpenter to install his study table and cabinets for his books. I couldn't resist buying him that doggie photo. SK loves dogs. He can't live without music. Thank goodness he's got the stereo from CH to keep him company.

This is what the contractor put up. Remember I wanted to frost the mirror? It now looks like frosted glass. Though the house isn't quite as bright as before, I like the frosted effect. To make this panel look more interesting, we added some trees. YK picked out this design called Gaia.

Here's what you see when you enter from the main door.

Authentic Korean food

After a week of improper meals, I decided that I deserved a good dinner on Friday night. Since our friends Chris and EY were in town, we roped them in to join us for a Korean BBQ dinner at Chang Korean Restaurant at Dempsey Hill. It's our first visit there. It's a pretty upmarket place. The decor is a combination of dark and light food finishings with Korean chests and paintings lining the walls. I particularly like the high ceiling. Dempsey Hill was once a sprawling army camp. These buildings were once army barracks.

The menu's simple to understand with lots of nice photos. The dishes are quite pricey but the quality and service made it all worthwhile. There were lots of Koreans having dinner that night which is always a good sign.

Beautiful sunset at Dempsey Hill. It was a full-moon night on last Friday.

Since we had a Korean amongst us, we let EY do the ordering. The dishes she chose were perfect! She even ordered plum liquour which was sweet and refreshing.


A typical Korean meal consists of many small side dishes. The dish of green leaves, in the background, comprising lettuce and mint is for eating with the BBQ meat.

With EY.

Chris and best pal CH hamming for the camera.

The pink Wagyu beef being cooked.

Wrap the cooked beef in the leaf and pop it into your mouth.

We had the octopus and beef stew too. The beef had been cooked until it had that tender melt-in-the-mouth texture. The radish and carrots were cottony soft and sweet, having absorbed all the flavours of the stew. This dish was amazing.

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We also had the garoupa fish hotpot which I didn't get a good photo of. The fish was sliced and fried in tempura before being added back into the pot of soup chockful of vegetables and Inoki mushroom. It was also very tasty.

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I feel that Chang Restaurant is great for business lunch and dinners. The service is prompt and discreet. Most of the service staff are Koreans. Like I said, it's as authentic as you can get.

Weekend retreat

We're spending the weekend at my parent's home. It feels good to be home again. Rusty seems happy to see us for a while before he resumes his nonchalant self again.

SK is happily catching up on his on-line gaming. The internet connection is not up at the apartment yet but the cable TV is now up and running. I was hoping that I could update my blog at my parent's but I left my camera cable behind which explains the lack of photos today. We had an excellent Korean dinner of waygu beef at Chang Korean Restaurant with our good pals, Chris and wife on Friday night. Then we headed to Ben & Jerry's for sundae. There was a live band playing old songs. It was abit of a campus style performance but with good company, nobody was complaining. I'll post photos of the evening tomorrow when I'm back at work.

YK spent the whole weekend outside doing his chemistry experiments using his little gas stove, vinegar, copper and nail polish remover. He's trying to create crystals. I told him experiments like this are not allowed at the apartment.

This morning, I quickly gave my car a good wash. It's not that I can't wash my car at the apartment but over here, I simply turn on the tap and hose the car down without any hassle. I'm beginning to realise that I've taken lots of things for granted in the past. We always had the refrigerators filled with food and fruits. It's like a supermarket here! Plus, all you need to do is toss the used clothes into the laundry basket and they get washed, ironed and sorted out quickly.

I also spend more time talking to mum knowing that I won't be seeing her all week. In the past, I simply slink to my room and stay there all day. Now that I know I won't be seeing her much, I sit out in the living room more than ever before.

The trouble with shuttling between homes is, you soon realise that you're leaving stuff there when you need them here. Just like my camera cable. It kind of reminds me of my best friend and her kids who live with her parents during the week so as to be near the schools, and spend the weekend at their family home. She's been at it for almost 8 years!

First night

We spent the first night at the apartment yesterday since everything has already arrived, except for the dryer which, for some reason, was left out. There were so much stuff to buy, from toothpaste to shampoo and power adaptors. Plus fruits and drinks to fill an empty fridge. The list is endless.

At night, the kids drew up the curtains, dimmed the lights, cranked up the aircon and turned the entire living room into a dark movie theatre. What happened to my dream of sitting by the balcony, gazing at the moon and feeling the wind in my face? Blame in on the generation gap!

CH dropped by with a grill/fondue set and a box of doughnuts. I promptly ate one after realising that I haven't eaten anything decent all day. In fact, all the running around meant that I've been neglecting proper meals all week. At least I'm assured of a nutritious home-cooked dinner at my parents' home but living on our own means that I have to plan and prepare the meals from now on.

YK has a bit of an obsessive streak in him and wanted everything to be neat and orderly. SK's more like me. We go for comfort instead of style. So, here we were, leaving things all over the place which YK will promptly put away in the drawers. It's going to be a challenge finding stuff around the house.

After a long and tiring day, I realised that I had one more chore to do before hitting the sack. Ironing. The moment I brought out the new iron and ironing board, it all came back to me how I've always hated ironing! I must shamefully admit that I haven't done any ironing for decades as it's always been taken care of by our domestic helper. So, there I was, grumbling under my breath and before I knew it, I had burnt a hole on the ironing board. Damn it! Luckily I didn't burn the school uniform or else the kids will have to skip school today.

Let's just say ironing is not my strongest suit.

We slept well all night. I had the big bed all to myself. It feels a little strange sleeping in a bed that big again compared to that tiny little cot I had been sleeping in over the last few years. It feels lonely too without Rusty under my bed.

Yesterday, my niece Ting called and said, "Rusty is so poor thing. His mummy and daddy are not coming home. He's so lonely."

That brought tears to my eyes. I'm going back to see him this afternoon. YK has a play to attend tonight but SK will sleep over at my parent's home. I think he misses his playmate Rusty the most.

Busy bee

Hi folks. I'm buzzing over to the apartment shortly to await the delivery of the last few bits. My car is loaded to the max with our clothes, shoes and everything you can think of. The madness should end today and life will be back to normal again. I'm missing out too much on work and the blog world. Sorry for not checking in on your blogs lately. I promise to do so with a vengeance after this week!

Favourite pieces

Some of my favourite pieces arrived today. I'm too excited, I have to show you right away!

I surprised myself by chosing these lightings at lightning speed last week. While I always like the gothic type of chandeliers, I had never imagined having them in my house simply because the decor magazines are featuring them to death. But when I entered the lighting shop and saw these charming hanging things, I just couldn't resist buying... not one, but two!

This chandelier with black crystals now hangs above our dining table.

This is how it looks at night. Isn't it charming?

Here it is again, reflected in the wall mirror. This will be the last time you see a mirror image because the mirror will be frosted tomorrow. Yah, yah, it has something to do with fengshui. Despite the kids' protests, I'm not changing my mind. I'll show you when it's done. It'll be nice, I promise.

This black beady one in my bedroom is very Victorian and lends a feminine touch to my room.

You should know by now that I have a thing for trees. In fact, we have motifs featuring trees around the house which I'll show when ready. When I saw this cabinet with a tree attached at Ikea, I had to bring it home! The parcel was so darn heavy, I literally dragged it into my car, into the elevator and my house. I'm so thankful that SK helped me to assemble the entire fixture together. There were a million parts to deal with! Look at the end result. It fits so well in my bedroom. I'm going to hang my handbags on the branches.

Can you see the long oak console behind? It's from Ikea too. Another killer weight package that I lugged home and assembled all by myself! It has a drawer with a spacious tray for all my jewelry.

I fell in love with this little wooden table with shiny chrome legs when I first laid eyes on it. It's very unusual because the top is made using many thin wooden strips melded together into a wooden block. I could use it alone as a stool, a bedside table or even a little worktop to put my laptop while watching TV. Or I could join 2 together to form a little bench (below).

I bought 2 pieces and almost wanted to call up and ask for another 2 more. Lucky thing I didn't because the kids aren't too crazy about them. Oh well... 2 is enough.

I bought this outdoor set from Natural Living, the shop that sold me those wooden benches above. They look a little pale and unattractive in my patio but when I throw on my stripey cushions (below) and place them near the lush greenery...

Voila! Now, it looks just like a resort in Bali!

You can tell by now that I love wooden stuff. I bought this teak cabinet with completely no idea where to place it. When it arrived today, I put it at the end of the long hallway and hey, it's not a bad idea at all. YK and I love the candlestand from Ikea. I just want to kick myself. When I saw the older design on sale ($9.90) at Ikea, I thought I should buy it later. When we went back again, they had phased in a newer design which cost $59! Except for slight modifications to the base, they look quite similar actually.

Here's a closer look at the banana chair and shaggy rug. They're now the favourite places to lounge infront of the TV...until the sofa arrives tomorrow. We'll see.

Mr Wang

I received his first call at 9am last Friday. He couldn't find his way to my new apartment. Speaking in heavily accented Mandarin, he sounded breathless and almost frantic. I couldn't help him very much as he couldn't tell me exactly where he was. He called again later to say he'll find his way somehow.

His colleague was already at the apartment. So, I left for work. In the late morning, I received another call. Good news was he was already hard at work. He called to ask how I wanted the floor strips to be laid. He was babbling so quickly, I couldn't understand. So I told him to wait for my return.

That's when I first saw Mr Wang, a slim built man with curly dark hair. He hails from Ningbo, a port city in China, to seek a better life for his family back home. Toiling from morn to night, he makes a meagre living as a woodworker in Singapore but I can tell from the way he works that he's a skillful craftsman and a very meticulous worker.

I saw him again that evening when I was locking up the house. I was heading to town and offered him a lift. He felt uneasy and insisted on walking to the train station. I told him it was no trouble at all for me to send him and finally he relented.

In the car, I asked about his family. Despite their protest, he gave up a carpentry business back home for a chance to work in Singapore. It's been 8 years and he's still here. Maybe he can return home for good in about 2 years time, he mused. Life was good in Ningbo, where he has a house with many bedrooms. Now he shares a tiny flat above a shop with several other workers. His face lit up when he spoke about his daughter who's studying in the university back home.

Early this year, he managed to convince a company in Singapore - a dealer of motorcycle parts - to employ his son. For the past 6 months, his son has been working and studying here. He likes it here and is quickly adjusting to his new life at the company's quarters.

In his animated way, Mr Wang told me about his province back home. He wanted to show me some catalogues of the industries there. Sure enough, on Monday morning, he brought a little bag of printed literature. I flipped through the catalogues of Chinese calligraphy, modern staircases and toys produced in Ningbo while he busied himself with the floor laying.

I returned in the evening to lock up. He had completed the job but was struggling with the main door he had dismounted earlier. He couldn't get the hydraulic to work properly. I don't blame him as this is really not his area. He must have meddled with the wrong screws and now the door couldn't close. I had to leave but he worked on it until 9.30pm before giving up.

He called to apologise and offered to bring a friend who's a door specialist to look at it the next day after work. They turned up yesterday evening and within minutes, the door was fixed. Thinking that he would have to skip dinner again like the day before, I brought them dinner and iced tea. They wouldn't accept but I insisted.

He called me when he got home to thank me for being an understanding homeowner. "No, I should thank you instead, for a job well done", I said.

He was visibly touched. In all his years here, nobody had shown any interest in a labourer like him. If I ever visit Ningbo or anywhere in China, he'll ensure that his wife and family extend their warmest welcome to make my stay there a most hospitable one.

I don't think I have done anything extraordinary for Mr Wang except to treat him as a fellow human being. I always believe that I should treat people they way I expect to be treated. It's that simple.

All the best Mr Wang!

Almost there

The cleaners did a fantastic job! I was expecting an army of cleaning ladies to show up but two middle aged men turned up at my door armed with detergents, ladders and scrubbing gear. I have to admit that men are better cleaners than women simply because they are so much stronger. Well, they were very thorough and spent hours cleaning every nook and cranny, even up on the ladder cleaning the top of kitchen shelves. Now my house is like spanking new again!

The TV console arrived, followed by the cosy sofa and rug. All day long, my phone was ringing off the hook with furniture deliveries being rescheduled, address and time slots checked and confirmed. In between, there were business calls to attend to. It looks like another busy day tomorrow.

Here's a view of the living room today with the wooden laminate flooring. The cosy chair in the corner is the banana-leaf one that will be moved into my bedroom. I was so excited to find the stripey cushion covers at Tangs yesterday and promptly went out to Ikea to buy cushions to stuff. They remind me of my favourite prison-stripe tee shirt. Well, the house will look different again tomorrow when more furniture come in. I like it bare like the way it is now...

Time off

Since the kids didn't have to attend school on Monday, I took the morning off to go furnishing-shopping with YK. After meeting the flooring guys at the apartment, we set off for breakfast at Ikea. What a surprise to find the dining hall packed at 9.30am. Apparently many parents shared the same idea.

We spent an hour browsing at the store before heading to Isetan and Tangs in the city. At one point, YK said "I definitely want to be the boss of my own company in future. I can get to shop on a workday."

While his aspirations are admirable, he's only looking at the rosy side. He has forgotten how he's forever grumbling about why I'm still working at 9pm or replying emails on a Sunday morning. Or why I can't sit through a TV programme without having to answer a business call.

By 1pm yesterday, I was already feeling the heat of being absent from the office all morning. I dropped him off at home and hurried to work to find a list of emails in my mailbox. Soon after, the flooring guy called for an inspection in 30 minutes. I rushed down to find that they had another few more hours to go.

I went back to the office to make some long distance calls to solve an urgent problem. Before I knew it, office hours were officially over. I went back to the apartment to find that they were having difficulty fixing back the main door they had dismantled earlier. Ten minutes dragged to 30 minutes. I suspected it would take a long time because they could not get the door's hydraulic system to work properly.

I went home for dinner, leaving them to solve the problem. At 9pm, when I was working at my desk, they called to say it still wouldn't work. I told them to lock up and resolve the problem over the next few days.

After sending my last email of the day at 9.30pm, I decided to crawl into bed for a good night's sleep.

Alas, it was a fitful night of sleep. Maybe I was anxious about the upcoming schedules, for I got up at 1am thinking it was already 5am. Getting back to sleep was hard. The schedules kept replaying in my head. As I laid in bed, I had the timings all laid out. While the cleaners are at work in the morning, I shall scoot over to Ikea to exchange an item that I purchased yesterday. While at Ikea, I should get a couple of stuff I left out yesterday. Then I should get back to pay the cleaners and wait for the TV console and cosy chair to arrive.

Yesterday I also realised that my mammogram clashed with the bed delivery on Wednesday morning. I entertained the thought of asking my colleague to be at the apartment while I'm at the doctor's but decided against it. I managed to reschedule the bed delivery to the afternoon where I'll also be anticipating the arrival of washer, dryer and TV set. The lighting guy's coming in the morning and I hope he can install all the lights before I leave for my mammogram.

Thursday will see the arrival of sofa set. That should complete all the deliveries. The house will be ready for living from thereon. There are several other things to be done, like applying for broadband connection, cable TV etc.

I know it seems a little hectic but the workmen and deliveries can only come during working hours at certain time slots which means I have to take time off from work to be there. The kids are in school and everyone else is also working and I don't have a spouse whom I can split the workload with. But I'm not complaining. When I'm out furniture shopping, almost every salesperson would ask, "Don't you have to seek your hubby's opinion first?"

"Nah."

Farm life

The weekend whizzed by in a blur. Saturday, Singapore celebrated our national day with a grand parade and spectacular display of fireworks. CH was over for dinner on Saturday and we, in turn were over at his house for dinner on Sunday. His brother treated us to an elaborate dish of "Buddha Jump Over the Wall" which he took days to prepare. Thanks CK!

In between, our days were filled with little activities around the house. Life in the farm is always filled with excitement and animal sightings. We found a lost Husky in the neighbourhood and made friends with some other pooches.

My dad's friend left this dog behind for our workers to take care. It lives in our farm now.


We found this beautiful Husky wandering around the neighbourhood and quickly drove home to fetch her some food. We were not sure if she belongs to one of our neighbours but I didn't see her anymore after Saturday.

She gobbled up the dried pellets quickly but refused to eat the loaf of bread. When I tried giving it to her, she bit chunks of it and spat it out repeatedly. It was funny!

This Arapaima belongs to my neighbour. It's definitely more than 6ft long!

The beagle is my other neighbour's.

This is my dog Rusty....

...that killed a baby monitor lizard. Can you imagine this foot-long reptile was lounging behind our cupboard in the kitchen! It can grow into the size of a crocodile. Creepy!

Lazy or busy?

I haven't been running all week. Now running feels like a distant memory, it's going to be tough to get started again.

But, I've been running around alot lately. To source for flooring, painters, lightings etc for the apartment. I'm at the apartment in the morning to meet the workers, and back in the evenings to lock up or pay up. I can understand now how renovating a house can be so stressful and I'm not even renovating!

Thank goodness all these will be over by this evening. The place will be cleaned up early next week and furniture will be in before next week is over.

After all this running around is over, I had better start running again. My next race, Nike Human race, is just weeks away!

Escapes

As a regular reader of Shape Magazine, I came across a new segment called Escapes: Reader's Postcard. The editor wrote: "Share with us the picture that best sums up your favourite active holiday, along with a short description of it."

Just then, I was reminiscing about my summer vacation last year and decided to write in on a whim. A couple of days later, the editor wrote back asking for a hi-res photo. I didn't even know I won a bag until I saw myself in the magazine later.

Here it is. It's an excerpt from the story "Let's hit the road" which I submitted to Intrepid Travels. My entry was selected as one of the winners of "City encounters". You can read it here.

I went on two cycling holidays in France last year. We had long days of cycling with some steep hills to climb but wonderful views to compensate. Strong winds, hot days and dramatic descents along winding mountain roads made some routes very challenging but it was worth every turn of the pedals. It was really sensational cycling. We traversed through vineyards, orchards with silver green olive trees, pine forests, quarries, gentle hills and mountain ranges, magnificent ravines and valleys, forts and unmade roads.

Gaga over Gaya

Do you like this bag? Well, I collected my prize yesterday - a Gaya Vancouver bag in pearly white colour. I sent in an entry to Shape magazine about my cycling adventure in France, the short article was published in the July issue and I bagged a bag.

I'm never lucky in lucky draws and lotteries but somehow when it comes to submitting stories to the newspapers or magazines, I stand a better chance of winning a prize. Last year I won a couple of Lonely Planet guides after I submitted my French cycling story to Intrepid Travel. I think the editors are happy to receive contributions as long as the work is not too shoddy.

I've worked in publishing before and we were sometimes so short of materials, we would scour through the press releases we received daily for anything newsworthy. If you have a magazine to fill, a deadline looming ahead and the editors screaming at you, I'm sure anything that's decent is a welcome relief.

So there, I've managed to update my blog today. While I have no editor breathing down my neck, I like to post something everyday. Well, I like this blogging routine you see. Yah, I like the Gaya bag too.

What a blast!

HEN + PAN

I wanted to surprise Mother Hen with a birthday present this year (yah, I haven't been buying her any for the past few years :-P) and started looking around on Amazon for a book or two.

You know how one gets distracted clicking around, and the next thing I knew, I had ordered a pan and an olive oil spray. In case you're living under the rock like me, Amazon now has a huge array of mechandise, from books (duh!) to gardening and kitchen stuff.
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Now, don't ask me why I ordered such weird things for a Hen. I was hoping to see her reaction when she receives the parcel actually. True enough, I received an email from her. Indeed, it was such a guffaw, much expected from my crazy friend across the globe. I couldn't help but chuckle as she clucked about the 'bomb'.

Here's the full story, straight from the Hen's mouth.....

We had friends from Walnut Creek around... the house was busy, and when we finally got back well past our bedtime, from all the super rich food and plenty of drinking, we were quite drunk and extremely tired, but Robin saw a parcel and took it in.

So we all stood around and asked one another, "What's that?" They said it had my name. I said "What? I ordered nothing". They said, you sure? It went on and on for quite a while... alcohol left us with no thinking power.

Then it came to me, goodness, it could be a bomb! Wow, am I really that famous??? :) So we decided to open it. In there we found a cast iron skillet, a really good skillet. Our very tired and drunk minds were even more confused. I didn't order this, I insisted. And my friends were like, "Why a skillet?"

Then I looked at the note, I said Ting... my friends were like, "What? What Ting Ting Ting Ting?" My tongue was heavy, but I presumed I did manage to say, "Ting a friend from Singapore sent this". But I couldn't explain any further without collapsing.

If you were here looking at us, you would have thought this was straight from a comedy. Now, 18 hours later, I manage to function better than last night though I could probably sleep for another two days straight. And wow Ting, you sent me a skillet!!! :) Ahhhhh you're soooooooooooooo sweet! :)

Oh cast iron is really good stuff. I use it a lot here. Like I always "gentle" brown some chicken, beef, fish then quickly shove the whole thing into the oven for the cooking! Then I just take the whole skillet out and put it on the table. I saw a friend did whole chicken like that too and it's just wonderful. I could bring you one too when I go back to Singapore next.

Ohhhh, I'm still so tired. I really need a cup of coffee now. And really, thank you for your very sweet thought :) very big heart :) And lots and lots of hugs from your famous friend here who still thinks someone will send her a bomb :)

Ah, what a blast! Happy birthday Mother Hen!!

Sneak preview

After a long wait, I finally laid my hands on the keys to the flat! This morning, I met with the painter and flooring guy to finalise some details. The painters are starting work tomorrow.

As the previous owner moved out 4 months ago, some of the plants in the patio that they had lovingly nurtured were already dying. Wielding my cutter, I pruned the shrubs, cut away the dead leaves and tossed out the dying plants. I fed them water and fertiliser too.

See the pile of dead leaves? I just starting to trim the plants when I realised that I should take some 'before' photos of the apartment for memory. Well, here's a sneak preview.

Partial view of the garden. I'm excited to develop this container garden. I'll be putting in more flowering plants and garden ornaments to liven up the patio.

See the planter box with dead plants? That'll be thrown out of course. That's YK's bedroom by the way.


A view of the living and dining area. All those hanging wooden things will have to go too. And the red lanterns! Gosh, Chinese New Year's over 7 months ago!


The previous owners are passionate about gardening and they've built a wooden boardwalk.

Our tiny kitchen.

The narrow hallway leading to the bedrooms. I see lots of potential with those white walls. Maybe I'll hang some photos from our travels.

YK's bedroom with a large window ledge. Too bad, the room is only big enough to fit a queen size bed and wardrobe. That's why I made some markings on the floor to see how best I can squeeze in a study table. There's still hope, if we can find a long and narrow one.

It's hard to shoot SK's room because the shape is a little odd. Sadly, his room doesn't look out to the garden like ours.

This is my bedroom. There's a big planter box just outside the window. I'll wake up to greenery every morning. Yay!

Or Lu Lu

I had a sudden inspiration to change the mustard coloured marble floor in the living area to timber flooring for a more cosy feel. Since timber strips are so costly, I have found a cheaper alternative called wooden laminate flooring.

YK fell in love with the idea rightaway. Trouble is, he likes dark wood whereas I prefer a lighter colour. Given a choice, I would even choose white timber strips but everyone gets to vote at home and naturally I was voted out.

I showed him some samples and he chose Congo Wenge. From the name, you can tell it's an African wood. To be exact, it is dark brown to almost black with a very dark grain.

Oh my, I can imagine our small living room with the black sofa, black TV console, black dining set and almost black shaggy rug set on the dark wooden floor. This is what the older folks would call an Or Lu Lu home. So black. I want some colours!

Dogs. Food

It has been a while since I had such an action-packed Sunday like this. I went for my morning run as usual while SK was having his tuition. After a quick shower, I made my way to Hong Lim Park to meet CH for the Hakka Food Festival organised by the Char Yong (DaBu) Association.

The area was teeming with people when we arrived at 1pm. Unfortunately, some of the stalls had already sold out everything. Maybe they were not expecting such a good turnout. We managed to savour some yummy Hakka favourites like the beef ball soup, Hakka Yong Tau Foo, minced pork with preserved vegetables patty served in a bun, seasoned pork strips and my favourite Hakka dish, abacus seeds.


It's chow time!

After lunch, we walked to Far East Square in search of the Sunday flea market. It was a blazing hot afternoon. Thank goodness we walked under sheltered walkways and shady trees for most part. I'm glad our urban planners have done a good job of making Singapore a green city.


The flea market here is a small scale one held along the sidewalk of the Far East Square building. We found some stalls selling Chinese art, old records, books and knick knacks.


I wanted to buy some cute stuff from this vendor but decided not to succumb to temptation.

I wonder if this is a fossilised lizard from long ago.

What I like about Far East Square is the award-winning architectural aesthetics. Designed and built according to the Chinese concept of geomancy, Far East Square reconstructs Chinatown the way it was in the old days. The streets are lined with shophouses bearing architecture dating back to 1840.

I love the way this old building is preserved and incorporated into this contemporary development. It houses a Chinese restaurant today.

We kept craving for ice cold drinks under the hot weather. We shared a big cup of ice milk tea from the popular Mr Tea Tarik shop. It was so good and rejuvenating, we started hamming for the camera after our caffeine fix.

I tried the cheesy 'climbing spiral staircase' pose.

Maybe CH was hungry. He wanted the bowl of fishball noodles so badly.

We headed to West Coast Park after that to support Noah's Ark CARES' attempt to raise funds through the National Dog Walk event. Noah’s Ark CARES is a non-profit organization solely dependent on donors and sponsors for the work it does - reaching out to Singaporeans and addressing the issue of abandoned pets and unwanted strays.

Maybe if you get tired of your dog, you can lease it out? :-)

West Coast Park is very well shaded by matured trees. This afternoon, the entire place was just filled with dogs and their owners. Every dog has its day. Well, today's the day!

Everyone's admiring each other's dog.

Hey, this is Rusty's Lamb!

Big dogs, small dogs, fluffy dogs.

Spotty Dalmatian.

Finally, we grabbed another ice cold drink at MacDonalds and walked to the coast to enjoy some cool breeze. What a delightful afternoon!

Kids learning to skate.

View of the marina and our busy port. That's the bay where we had our sailing lessons.