Off to US for a holiday!

I'm now @ one of the PC terminals with free internet access @ Changi Airport. After clearing work emails and finishing up the last bit of packing, I only slept from 12.50am till 2.15am. It must be the excitement of going on a long holiday that I didn't feel very tired and I even had the mood and appetite to have a full breakfast of bread, cereal and fruits. Dad was very sweet to wake up early to send me to the airport and even accompanied me from check-in till I entered the departure hall.

I'm looking forward to this 11-day holiday to visit my good friend :) Hopefully when I'm back, I'll have the time to blog about my experience.

Relaxing in Perth

Friendship.
Eating.
Homecooked food.
Warm hospitality.
Glee.
Music.
Harry and Rosie.
Sun. Sea. Park. Beach. Cool breeze.
Happy. Inspired :)

How I spent my Christmas eve and day :>

Christmas eve
I was busy clearing some work so that I could go for my short trip in Perth tomorrow. A few good friends and I went to Nutrihub Organic Fusion Cafe for healthy yummy ramen/noodles before we parted ways. Along the way we noticed a few girls wearing cute little Santa hat on their hair. My friend and I saw a man with a basket, selling them at $5 each for charity. My friend got 2 and gave 1 to me.

I was wearing it yesterday and today at home :)

I arranged the top of my cabinet for a more Christmassy look.



Mom cooked simple dinner and the colour of the dishes looked similar. Hee. They were yummy, so we didn't mind.


We fed the community cats as usual. I had a short rest at home before I met a good friend downstairs to give her a gift while she gave me this huge raisin cranberry bread. It actually tastes like a soft cookie. I broke half of it into smaller pieces while I kept the rest in the freezer.


I have 2 friends @ work who gave me some sweets/choc and home-made gingerbread couple.

Sis asked if I wanted to see her gift for me or wait till Christmas Day. I couldn't wait :) She got me this big bag with cute cat prints. I can use it to carry my stuff when I go for my Jap lessons.


I admired the other cat gifts from my friends.


Christmas Day
After feeding the cats in the morning, I decided to finish up the remaining stalks of lemongrass in the fridge and make my favorite drink. Mom helped me to smash the ginger slices, so that we could get more spicy ginger taste in the drink. It worked :)


Sis recently got herself a Lomo Holga. She took 2 photos of me with Mom and Angel separately. Look forward to see how the photos will turn out.


I also set myself an ambitious task of cooking dinner. I baked cornflake chicken and fish. Mom helped to cook the potato carrot tomato soup, using the slow cooker (I helped to cut the veggies). The broccoli dish was prepared by Mom. The food was quite a lot, so we had to keep some rice, a bit of soup and one piece of fish. Glad that everyone enjoyed the food :)


Okay, I need to sleep soon as I have a 9am flight to Perth to catch :)

Zoo outing with friends

I took half day's leave on Fri afternoon to visit the zoo with my 3 girlfriends. We boarded the zoo bus from Grand Hyatt around 1.10pm. By 2pm, we reached the zoo and had our lunch near the entrance. There was a power failure and we were surprised that the electricity didn't come back until we were leaving the zoo around 6pm. We also couldn't enjoy the 20% discount from my OCBC credit card as we could only pay for our admission and tram ride by cash ($23 per person). My friend told the staff that they should feedback to their management that the customers shouldn't be penalised as the power failure wasn't our fault.

The photos I took:

The otters taking afternoon nap :)

The children dressed in colourful t-shirt. I took this while in the tram. If you could see through the blurriness, one of the kids in the centre in the purple top seemed to be sticking out his tongue. Notty! :)

The elephant show. I was lucky not to get squirted with water by one of the elephants even though I was sitting at the front row.


The Carribean manatees who looked gigantic and cuddly. Some hyperactive penguins swimming while the others just seemed dazed on land.


A colony of baboons either grooming each other or looking around. We also saw 2 males fighting and making lots of noise.


The White Tiger just resting and then grooming himself. That scene reminded me of my home cats and community cats :)


Another performance by the seal.


The last shot of another animal (the wolf) in the zoo.

Sis asked if I took this photo because of the half naked boy. Haha. Of course not, the subject is the jeep which is used to educate the visitors about illegal wildlife trade.

Somehow, the zoo doesn't seem as interesting as before when I visited a few years ago or when I was a young kid. There is also this question whether some of these animals are doing well in captivity or they are bored in their enclosure. But it was still fun to spend the afternoon with good friends.

Sis' gifts from Melbourne

Sis was back from Melbourne last night. She seems happy with the trip which is her first long vacation and she said it makes her feel like going for more overseas holidays.

She bought lots of chocolate for us and friends. Koko Black is considered an expensive chocolate brand and she got a few of their products. Mountain tortoise me have not heard of it before.

Sis also bought lots of girly stuff such as:

• Bags for herself, mum and me. My bag is handmade and she gave me a cute cat purse too.

• Lip balms. I got to choose 2! Pink lemonade and apple flavours. Yum!

• Accessories - bangles, earrings and necklaces. Mine is the first necklace. Groovy, right? :)
  

Last day in Penang

When I woke up on our last day in Penang, I took some time to admire the view from the balcony.


Lee Choon and I went for the complimentary breakfast while Fion feasted on guavas and grapes in the hotel room. After tasting the mini buffet spread
, we had our main course served (Lee Choon - chicken congee and me - nasi lemak).

The trip was nice and relaxing in the company of good friends and not to forget the good food.

Shangrila Rasa Sayang

On our 2nd afternoon and night in Penang, we stayed in the newly renovated wing of Shangrila Rasa Sayang - Rasa Wing.

The girls couldn't stop raving about the deluxe room. Spacious. Clean.

Lovely view from the balcony. It was not crowded due to the lull period. The service was good.

After having enough rest in the hotel room, we went to the gym for a workout before hitting the swimming pool. Karen drove us to another seafood place where we packed these food to enjoy at the balcony of our hotel room. Yummy!