Youth Over Flowers/花样青春/꽃보다 청춘

Another spin-off from Grandpa over flowers- Youth Over flowers debut with 3 singers-songwriters in their 40s touring Peru. I wasn't that interested in watching the show initially since :

1). I didn't know who the 3 guys featured
2). 40s isn't exactly youth to me
3). I am not interested in seeing Peru.

Ok, so I didn't plan to watch this show until  I stumbled across an article that says the 3 guys starring in Reply Me 1994 are cast in the 2nd part of Youth Over Flowers.

Woo..Really Woo. Now it got me really interested.

Hehe I admit I am superficial. Gonna watch the show only when these guys got cast. Hehe.

So, I started watching only after episode 7 when these guys started their Laos tour. Seriously, I never knew Laos was so pretty till I saw episode 8 of the show. Blue Lagoon was really captivating though I think this will never be my holiday destination any time soon. Hehe.

I really admire NA PD's wit after learning how he tricked the 3 guys on going on the trip. They basically got tricked together and started the tour without any luggage and minimal allowances. But since they were much younger, they are more open to challenges. Kudos to their good nature in accepting and overcoming whatever came in their way.

I think I would never start a trip without any planning especially when language is a barrier. Even with my annual trips to Taiwan, I make sure I know my way well around the places we are visiting and I ALWAYS over pack.

Anyways, I love the show already after 2 episodes. Never knew Chilbongie is so motherly, Haitai is a bit sua ku and Binggeure is such a cutie pie.

Their friendship from Reply Me 1994 is pretty evident in this show too. But it would nicer if Sseureki & Samcheonpo are joining, that would really be an interesting tour.

Of course it would not hurt to have eye candies on the show with the guys going topless in some scene. I am definitely sticking to this show till it ends.

Cast of Reply me 1994 / Youth Over Flowers

Excuse me while I go drool over Chilbongie's good body. Haha

Maiden Batam Trip-Part 3

Dinner was at a ulu part of Batam near the seaside. The setting is somehow like a mini kelong where the owners rear all sorts of seafood and you can get to choose the live fish for your meals.

Few of them took charge and went to order dinner for all of us. The good thing is quite a few of them speaks Bahasa Melayu which is similar to Bahasa Indonesia which makes things easier during ordering/ haggling. And the best is, they know every well which food to order to avoid incurring too high charges. Yay..

Crabs

We just followed them around the kelong while the owner was showing the different fishes available.

Restaurant by the sea

After selecting my dinner menu, Mr Love went around the Kelong to see the various ponds that they rear the various marine lives. Mr Love was especially  happy to go around seeing the different ponds.

It turned dark pretty fast

The group who decide tonight's dinner

Little did we know this is 1 of the worst meal we are about to had.

There are like dozens of flies buzzing around us even before the food arrives. We were all busy trying to chase the flies away but to no avail. We requested for the waiters to bring us candles which we believed will keep the flies away but again it doesn't work.

The situation got worse when the food arrived, it's like a whole army of flies just decided they want our dinner. Strangely, the other table diners didn't suffer the same fate as us.

It was then decided that we cannot eat normally and we passed the dishes around to each take a spoonful of the dish and we will all eat from our plate like mixed vegetable rice. While doing this, others will help to keep the flies away from the dishes. It was a horrible dining experience and we finished eating in record time and got out of the. The food was cheap though, SGD50 bucks.

Then, it is shopping time again. We had previously passed by a shopping mall on our way to the bridge and they requested our driver to drop us there on our way back. It was 7.30pm when we got there and we have got an hour and half for shopping.

Since we did not have good dinner, Mr Love and I decided the most important thing now is to fill our stomachs again, not shopping. Haha. Since we keep coming across a fried chicken fast food restaurant called BFC(not KFC) we decided to give it a try.

Funnily, we always assume it is Batam Fried Chicken but we realized it is Best Fried Chicken after going in. Haha Ordered a 2 pc chicken meal with my limited Bahasa Melayu and it works! Mr Love always leave the ordering to me when we are in Malaysia since he totally cannot understand Melayu.

A train past by us

BFC

 The fried chicken was so-so only, a set costing SGD 4.30 each and the restaurant was pretty empty when we got there. After eating, we then went around the mall. There is pretty much nothing here to buy here at least for us. Hurhur

We were told that things here are cheap at Carrefour and many of them brought daily necessities. Again, we brought nothing much except for 2 bottles of mineral water and 2 cup noodles. Haha It's all about food for us.

The cigarettes are really dirt cheap, costing SGD1.70 for a pack of 20s. Really shocked at the prices but it doesn't really concern us since we are non smokers. Just an observation that's all.

Brought 4 Jco donuts here which  I intend to take it for breakie tomorrow early in the morning because I need take medications. Costs SGD.70 each which is more than half the price back home. 1 of the colleagues told me that the donuts here tastes wayyyyy better than Singapore version but I didn't find it so, perhaps is because I seldom eat here.

Donuts for breakie before official breakie at 10am

With that we sat around in the Jco cafe to chat while waiting the others to come back from their shopping. I think we really shop the littlest in the whole group since all we brought is food up to now. Mr Love colleagues were pretty impress by our appetite. Muhaha.

It's back to the hotel after this stop and we had a good night rest.

Maiden Batam trip-Part 2

What do you expect to do when you go on a trip with all women? Shopping of course!

With 2 hours left to the returning ferry for those not staying over, we make a rush stop at a local provision store for shopping.

Mr Love is somehow used to seeing how madly his ex-colleagues shop but not me. Haha This is the first time I seen them in action.

Frankly speaking, I am not a good shopper overseas since I do not like to lug the heavy items back home. The funny thing is I am now at the stage of not wanting my home to be piling up with useless things we buy on impulse. That being said, I might sometimes lost control. This is the reason why we changed a minimal sum to avoid over buying. Haha.

Local provision store

I did not know why this store was chosen, think is because 1 of them came here on their previous trips. Anyways, they sell all sorts of keropok here and some very nice chilli sauce that can be used for cooking.

But it was the shop on the opposite street that caught their attention. It's a shop selling all sorts of Hello Kitty and many other cartoon characters items. Water bottles, soft toys, bags, stationaries and tons of other thing you can think of but mostly it's kiddos' stuff. Most importantly the prices here are cheap. I mean real cheap.

I didn't go into the shop since there isn't much time left and we went back to the car and chit chat with Mr Love's ex boss. Furthermore, I knew I will lost control and start buying all sorts of cutie stuff available in the shop.

The other ladies got excited when the 2 who went in came back and share their loots. End up, everyone else got down the van again and went in for a quick shopping despite having a ferry to catch in less than an hour. We stayed in the van still to chat. Haha Mr Love was impressed by my self control today.

We finally set off to the ferry terminal 10mins later with most of the ladies having a big bag of loots from the rushed shopping. Haha. Our hotel is right beside the terminal and we proceed to check in before moving out to the next destination -Barelang Bridge.

The only attraction here is the bridge and there is a line of street vendors nearby. There was quite a crowd here taking pictures on the bridge and we joined in the fun.

Start of many group shot on the bridge

 The bridge is around an hour ride away from our hotel, giving me some time to catch a wink since I slept only 4 hours the previous day.

 Seriously, there is nothing here except for the bridge. Perhaps the bridge is one of the nicer and modern building in Batam and therefore became an attraction. You see a lot of couples here dating, sitting on the bridge chatting.

We tried a selfie here

With the only kiddo of the group who is obsessed with him

 We spend quite a while here taking photos before going back to the van to go eat dinner. 1 of the street vendor caught our attention and every one began ordering grilled corn from her. I was hesitant to eat from the street for fear of diarrhea but Mr Love decided to  buy 1 and share too.

The helpful driver who took this photo for us

Grilling corns

The corn were tasty and even  sweet. We choose the non-spicy version as Mr love could not handle spicy food well. Some kind soul of the group let me have a taste of the spicy one and it tastes better. Still for the sake of Mr Love, I struck to the non spicy one.

A pic before I savour the corn

A short stopover here and we proceed to our dinner place. It is said to be a kelong inside a kampong. We are so looking forward to another tasty and cheap sea food dinner tonight.

Maiden Batam trip-Part 1

Batam, an island of Indonesia is around an hour away from us by ferry. Both Mr Love and I had not been there before and when his ex-colleagues asked us, we took the chance to go along.

For once I need not have to plan for our trip, can sit back and enjoy while going with the flow. I do like this kind of arrangement the only downside that we don't get to make any decisions. But we are both ok with it anyways.

Took the 8am ferry and reached Batam at 9am and true to the news report, no one dare to make a single sound while waiting to clear the immigration. I think if a pin were to drop there, the sound would be deafening.

Luckily we managed to clear the customs with ease and proceed to look for our pick up service from the spa.

It was no joke trying to get 15women (&3guys) to assemble and board the van since everyone is talking at once and doing their own thing. It was a bit messy initially but the organizer managed to settle us down.

We had previously choose the packages we want via email though we are allowed to make last minute changes here before payment. Payment can be made with Singapore dollars here with rates in our favour i.e SGD  1: IDR10,000 while exchange rate for that day is SGD 1 : IDR 9,200.

We paid for a 3hr Bali Massage which set us back by SGD114 which 5% discount. The massage itself was nothing to rave about. But the I find the masseuse having a hard time to massage us for 3 hrs straight. For us, the masseuse used some kind of body lotion to massage us all over and it was not the best experience for me since it took 3 washes before I think I am free of the oil.

Group shot at the SPA

After the massage, we were all hungry since most of us didn't take breakfast due to rush. Our  drive took us to the famous seafood restaurant that all tourists will visit- The Golden Prawn Restaurant. The restaurant itself have a super big seating area and I think can accommodate 100 tables at any 1 time.

Left the ordering to the organizers as we sat there chatting. Since it is seafood restaurant, I am sure the food here will be to my liking (i.e. not much veggies) hehe.

Food here was actually great as compared to the reviews we heard. But then again, it maybe due to us being hungry and have not been to other restaurants yet. Haha The most important thing is everyone had a great and fulfilling lunch before setting off for the next destination.

Chilli clams- Love this dish the best

Sambal Pentai

Super crispy deep fried small prawn

Calamari

Claypot veggie

"Chuchu"

There are 2 more dishes that we did not take any photos since everyone is busy eating. Total bill is SGD200 for 2 tables of full of food. My colleagues told me that we are being ripped off. But I still think it is cheap since there are 18 of us there.

Group shot again after lunch

We then went to exchange for the local currency since most of us did not bring any and we are due to go shopping. Muhuaha. Rate is 1 SGD to 9,200 IDR. Since all of our food, accommodation, transport are taken care of, we decided to change 50SGD worth of local currency so as not to overspend or to have too much left over at the end of the trip.

The funnie Mr Love was so happy to be holding near to 500,000 worth of money and decided to take photo.

The happy Man and OUR money

Ok, we are off to shopping now.

Maintaining youth

Recently there had been quite a lot of "volunteers" (or so they claimed) knocking on our door to ask for donations to the various charity organizations here.

There are 2 instances when I opened the door, they would ask me to ask to speak to a working adult instead of me. Haha. So twice I need to let them know that I am the working adult of the household and in fact is the lady owner.

Hehe.

Man it feels good to be told that I do not look like a working adult twice. Hehe Both times, they thought I am still pursuing my tertiary studies with my at home looks (T-shirt, shorts, specs).

Of course, I choose to believe that I look younger than my actual 30yr old hur hur.

Meaning to say the monies I invested in the various SK2 and Laneige products did helped me to maintain the looks:)

Independent woman

I am due to receive the blood test results tomorrow and in jitters these few days. Didn't even sleep well as am worrying a lot on the outcome.

Was chatting with my colleague the other day about me going to the check ups alone recently as Mr Love is unable to go with me due to work commitments. Even though I understand his reasons but there are times when I really wished he was there with me to collect the results.

I am a self confessed independent woman with the ability to settle a lot of issues on my own and not relying on Mr Love for help or his attendance.

But this time it is different, especially when I am in the waiting area, it's the most vulnerable time of my feelings.

Just the other day, I got fed up at him for failing to apply leave again for my appointment tomorrow. He was also upset with me for not being understanding. But there is only so much for my understanding. I also need his right?

There is no right or wrong in this matter but a matter of perspective. I had since got over the disappointment of going for the appointment tomorrow. What is now left are the butterflies in my stomach that are seems to be doing somersaults all at the same time.

I do hope the results turns out fine, but even if it doesn't I gotta face it don't I?

Facial woes

The other night, I was telling Mr Love that I gonna take an early shower and cause I wanna “做脸” aka facial.

So the ever smart alec hubby told me to go lie on the bed when I want to start the process.

Reason being? He say he wanna help me i.e to 坐脸 (sit on my face). Its a play around of Chinese words with the same pronunciation.

Very nice, I think my face will be crushed by him.

花好月圆

Mid Autumn Festival in Singapore is not widely celebrated, at least not at the stage of my life now.

I remember fondly of my younger days when we will go downstairs and carry a lantern to walk around the neighbourhood. Light up colour candles at the void deck where I am sure the cleaner would cursed us all the morning after. Haha

If mummy manages to get tickets, we will get to join in the party that resident's community club organized. Of course moon cakes were my favourite part of the celebration.

Fast forward to the 30yr old me now. Celebrations of any kind is pretty non existent. We don't even buy moon cakes since I get to eat a lot when vendors gift it to my company.

Sometimes, I missed all the celebrations we had when young.

Anyways even with no concrete plans for any celebration yesterday, Mr Love took the effort to get off work early so that we can have dinner together amidst of his busy month end closing period.

Its a sweet gesture on his part given his character.

What is more important than having a meal together with your love one on the day where the moon shines it's brightest?

Happy Belated Mid Autumn Festival everyone:)

Trying hard

Following results from my gynae check up, I decided that there should be changes to my lifestyle so as to prepare a healthy body for conceiving. This decision should be made long ago but somehow I got lost somewhere.

I had always tried to exercise a bit here and there with no fixed timetable. But is was just not  enough for me to maintain the weight with my current eating habits (since I don't agree on going on a diet).

Given my daily schedule it is quite impossible to go for cycling or a slow jog after reaching home. Most of the time, I would need take dinner as I am famished by the time I hit home at 7.30pm.

One day, a solution just dropped from the sky when my colleague mentioned that she is following the video of Jung Da Yeon whose figureobics (combination of aerobics & dance move) you can do in the comfort of your home no matter what time is it, rain or shine.

The idea was shelved for quite some time until recently I decided to give it a try and google the videos. It might look easy but when you really try out the moves, its a miracle if you can complete the 30 exercises at 1 go. My best timing was 20mins and I feel like dying already.

So I try not to stress my body too much since it will hurt the next day. I would usually start with 1 of her stretching video for 20min and then continue for 20mins froma figureobics videos before stopping for a rest and determine whether I can continue or not. More often than not, it's the ultimate for me and I would stop for the day.

I do not have the luxury for doing these everyday but I try to do it every 3 days hoping to lost a bit of weight or at least tone up the body. My colleague says she does it everyday for 30mins and she really slimmed down but she did go on a strict diet along with the exercise.

For my case, I am not looking at such extreme measures rather I just need something to keep me moving and stretch my body. So far, it had been 2 weeks since I started the exercises. I certainly sleep better down since I will be dead tired from the exercise.

The reason for 3 days break is also due to body ache, haha they say if your body aches after the exercises it meant that you have stretch that part well? I certainly hope so..

Let's hope I can maintain the current schedule and hopefully shed some extra weight that I put on for the past 2 years. Fighting!

Taiwan2014之梅雨的季节-Danshui Old Street 2014 (淡水老街）

 We had quite a lot of time to spare after visiting Wulai and decided to go Danshui which is on the other end of the line. I prefer going to Danshui on a weekday since it is crazily crowded on a weekend.

Reached there at about 4pm but it was raining. Not too heavily but still we need our umbrellas to be out while walking around which is a pain in the ass.

Not sure why but I love coming to Danshui even though there is nothing much to buy here. Love the old street that we can stroll on leisurely and the small shops that you may occasionally find something interesting to buy home.

The funny thing is we never got around doing the recommended tourist attraction here like taking ferry to Bali or visit the many historical buildings located there despite visiting Dan Shui for the 4th time this round.

Under the gloomy weather, there is pretty much nothing to do or see here today since half the shops are not open and it is pretty difficult to walk when every one is carrying an umbrella. We came across the Taiwanese version of KOI and decided to stop for drink. This is our 1st time drinking bubble tea in Taiwan. Maybe it is because we are always full from the street food and there is usually no more space for a cup of bubble tea any more. Hehe

Taiwan KOI

Armed with a cup of bubble tea each, we decided to go find the Hot star fried chicken stall and grab a bite.

Since it has been raining excessively these few days, Tamsui river bed is already swelling. It looks like it going burst if the rain continues any longer. Being a non swimmer, I did not have the courage to go near the banks for fear of the rising waters. Ferry services are halt too.

Swelling riverbed

Hot Star stall in Danshui is slightly different from the one found in Shihlin. Here besides fried chicken, they offer other finger food like fries, mushrooms, squids etc. The one in Shihlin sells solely fried chicken.

Anyways we didn't order others beside fried chicken, the queue here is much shorter than Shihlin and therefore we always buy from here.

Danshui Hot Star stall

There was no where to go under this weather so we found a shelter and start feasting on the chicken and bubble tea. There is one more cat with us hiding from the rain and got Mr Love excited over it. And so he shared the fried chicken with the cat happily while I hide at 1 corner to savour my fried chicken. Haha

The hubby and the Cat

We spent quite a lot time here with the cat before deciding to call it a day and retreat to our hotel before going out to night market again.

Feeding the last bits to the cat

Just as we reached hotel, the rain came back again and this time pretty heavy. Was not sure we will be able to enjoy if we make our way to a night market now and so we decided to buy instant noodles from the convenience store down stairs and holed up in our room watching tv and chatting.

This is a first for our Taiwan trips since we will surely make a trip to night market nightly for dinner but I guess the rain this time really put us off walking in it.

Dinner for the night

The cup noodles was exceptionally nice, unlike the ones back home but we always do not have much room for it after pigging out at the various night markets. It is also one of the more relaxing night we had since we just sat around to eat and chat. This is 1 thing that we did not do for all other trips since I will try to maximize our time outside.

Super yummy cup noodles

Choice of words

In the working world, I believed that the choice of words used will determine the reactions you get. You may not mean this way but more often than not, when the words reach the other party's ear it get twisted.

It's an art to speak without offending people and not many can master this art or rather take the effort to master it.

There is a typical example today. We have a difficult colleague in our department who thinks she is not difficult. Often she would complaint to people in other departments on our her fellow counterparts in our dept.

Sad to say, she didn't take a minute to reflect on her own doings. Sometimes even the colleagues she poured her sorrow to came back and ask us about her complaints. If I am in the mood to explain, I would elaborate and leave it to them to judge. When I am not in the mood, I would brush the comments off.

Anyways she had a disagreement with another dept colleague today over the presentation of some reporting stuff, it was so heated at we all stopped what we were doing and listened in to the tele-conversation. Hehe Typical KPOS.

So when she finished her quarrel, she came straight to our senior and bark some orders at him as thought as Empress Dowager is giving an edict. The whole instruction giving process is finished within 2mins and she walked away.

This change affects the whole department work process. It never came across to her to at least discuss with the senior on whether this is feasible, whether there are any limitations. She just assume that everyone needs to follow her order and full stop.

Autocratic.

So after she left, we had a discussion on it. Though unhappy, everyone obliged with the orders. Many times we just follow blindly not wanting to create trouble. Of course there are times when she cross over my line and I would refuse to do the stupid instructions she gave.

My point here is art of communication. While I mostly do not have problems with my other 2 colleagues who we can discuss and trashed things out and finally find a solution that most of us are happy, this particular person in question would not tolerate discussion even with our boss.

Nearly 3 years of working here makes me realised there is no room for discussion with her or any reasoning works since she always think she is right and stubbornly stick to her thinking. So I gave up and do things I deem right. This is to let her have a taste of her own medication. I am sure she is very unhappy with me. But so what? I am entitled to my own thinking since I am not a dog but a working adult.

No one is any less smart or responsible in our area of work in my department so I don't think  she need to impose her thinking or doing on us as though we are goons or need her guidance in order to work properly.

Unless she learn to communicate better with us, I think we are all struck in a grid lock with her.

A Mother's Love

I recently confessed to mummy on my body condition of why we couldn't conceived despite trying hard. She was calm when she heard the news but was nevertheless worried.

Reason for not telling her first hand is because I learnt of my condition just when she was about to go on her USA holiday, didn't want to dampen her mood and therefore kept it under wrap till one day I couldn't hold back anymore.

She was naturally upset that I kept it from her but couldn't do anything about it. She insist to go with me on the follow up checkups but I refused since I don't want her to know too much. Gave her a brief outline only and she was overly worried, just don't wanna scared her any further.

Anyways since the doctor just confirmed the polyps in my uterus and gave me a month to consider whether to undergo surgery, I naturally had to tell mummy truthfully. What I didn't expect is, she went around asking nearly everyone on what to do and hence I think the whole world knew of my condition.

 It didn't make things easier to be frank since she would give me whatever solutions she hear from anyone who is trying to help. Too much information is not necessary a good thing especially when I am still reeling from the aftermath of the conclusion and is in a mess of not knowing what to do yet.

She would recommend this TCM today and later another tomorrow as she heard so and so had gone to the other TCM with the same condition and was healed without going for any surgery. I knew she is concerned but many a times I need to bite my tongue to hold back my words so that I would not hurt her.

Truth is, I need sometime to think of what to do and not what others had done. I am used to making my own decision and not follow others blindly. There might thousand and one way of tackling my current condition but I think to analyze and see which way I wanna take. Sometimes, I just feel that she is imposing her thinking onto me.

Nevertheless, since she is so against me going for surgery (which I had initially decided to) I decided to heed her advice to visit a TCM with her sitting in the consultation so that I am not able to hide any thing that the doctor said. Muhaha nice move since I blocked her from going to KKH with me.

I now will have to swallow 8pills a time, 3times a day and monitor myself whether there are any side effects from the med. This hopefully can expel the polyps inside me naturally. So the conclusion now is I will hold off the surgery for 3 months and do a scan to confirm if the polyps are still there then only we will know if the TCM works on me.