Wany's Guide to Hong Kong!

Wany is so sweet! She borrowed me two of her Octopus Cards (similar to our EZLink cards) and a HK SIM card the other time we met, and now she even gave me a "Guide to Hong Kong", which I took a screenshot of.. :)

Here's the email she sent me, which has an attachment..

Wah! Damn detailed lah! Thanks Wany!

Flying to HongKong tomorrow!

I just squeezed DOMO into a vacuum bag, but I am still contemplating if I should bring him to HongKong for another series of "Domo Diaries"..

Not really keen cos we'll be changing 3 hotels for 6 nights, and I'm trying to pack light for the trip.. But the ironic thing is, I am still trying to squeeze in 2 pairs of boots to bring along and that's already taking up 1/4 of my luggage space. HAHA! Super bo liao.

We'll be staying in Marriot Skycity for the 1st night, than Disneyland Hollywood Hotel for the 2nd night followed by 3 nights in Kimberley Hotel.

The 1st night at Marriot costs S$290! -_- It's a $110 increase from the 1st time I checked out the price.. I did not book it then cos Pipimon was hospitalized and I didn't know if we were still going.. Sigh. :( And we'll be only checking in at 5plus cos our flight will only arrive Hong Kong at 5pm, but luckily it's 3mins drive from the airport.

Our subsequent nights are thankfully free cos Pipimon's friends are going and they have joined a package tour arriving one day later but will be giving us one room cos they like to bunk in together and sleep. So it's still a great deal cos we only paid for the flights and the 1st night. ^^

We'll be flying tmr at 1.30pm (earlier flights were fully booked), and returning on 29th Mar on SQ's A380. Pipimon never flew on the A380 so I chose the 3.30pm flight instead of the evening flight cos A380 only has 1 flight per day.

Hope the weather is good!

Amino Acid from Petopia

Chloe is picking at her food again, and Petopia recommends putting a tiny spoonful of amino acid into her food to whet her appetite..

Pipimon fetched me down yesterday to pick up a bottle for her at Petopia..

$125 per bottle! T_T"

Chloe, the picky eater.

The powder is glittery, like fairy dust! ^^

Putting a spoonful in her food..

So after 2 days, the results are mixed. This morning she finished everything.. but just now for dinner she only ate half. I am not sure if she has an eating disorder or she is just plain fussy OR she is on a perpetual diet and refuse to be fat.

If it's reason no 3, I really envy her perseverance cos I can't do it. :(

KooriMo Icecream

I was at Cold Storage the other day and saw this cute packaging on sale.. around $15 for 4 cups.. Not very cheap, and the usual price is over $20++..

Dunno what possess me to buy this instead of my favourite Häagen-Dazs.. I think it's because the girl is quite cute... I fell for the marketing shit and I feel so stupid. Damn.

Anyway it comes with 4 lousy spoons that snaps easily..

Cutsey picture at the bottom of the box

It's not even that big lah, so this 1 cup = 2pax to share is utter bullshit

I have dig a bit from all four cups to taste and it's horrible. It claims to use premium milk from Europe but I think the cheap Walls icecream is better than this. This is a definate OIE (Once is enough) experience. I will not encourage you to buy cos it's really not nice.. I am gonna leave it in the fridge until it expires so I have a legitimate excuse to throw it away.

Yuck.

Chloe's bolster

Just wanna post a pic of Chloe's bolster and my new fringe.. :)

And also, she has this weird habit of sleeping with her head out of the heart-shaped "window" of her house.. I think it's more comfy like that with her head propped on the bigger bolster she has.. Or maybe I should buy her a bigger house... Hmmmm...

Double Wedding at Shangri-la Singapore

Attended my ex-boss's identical twin daughters wedding dinner..

Scene out of a drama show.. no?

This is a screenshot of a video montage of their church wedding.. Two grooms, two brides and their daddy in the middle.

M&M stands for Mandy & Mark, one of the couple. :) The other couple is Irene & Joel. I think it would be fun if both of the twins also marry identical twin brothers... but no lah, their husbands are not twins..

Me & Santi guniang! :) Love the hair colour! Credit to Bugis Essensuals' Bryan!

Super cute right? The mascots on the car... and my Samantha Thavasa bag :)

The wedding was fun cos they engage singers to sing live and most of the songs were from Glee! I was commenting to Santi guniang that the brides must love Glee, and then they performed a set from the "Furt" episode where Finn & Kurt's parents got married to each other in the church.

The food was ultra yummy and the servers were quite attentive... I say quite cos they keep forgetting our drinks orders.. But they were polite and friendly though.

I love weddings! Makes me happy! And also, gives and brings good luck!! ^^

8th Braces Visit, Upgrade to Powerbands!

Today I went for my braces appointment, now I cannot choose alternating colours on the same row cos I've upgraded to powerbands which is one whole line linked together... So I can only choose 1 colour for each row...

I chose turquoise and pink! :)

The pink is the same one as last month's upper row.. but I chose it again cos it goes nicely with the turquoise and I love pink! :D

The wire is also much thicker now and my dentist is pushing back my two front teeth.. if I use my finger or tongue to push the teeth, it hurts like hell lah! But if I don't touch it, not really painful.

I think after 2 days I'll get immune to the nagging soreness and pain liao.. Makes chewing a bit hard.. but I can one!! ^^

So this is the 7th visit liao! I think another 5 or 6 more months I can remove them for good! I think lah, cos Dr Anna Tang say my teeth is moving very nicely.

I also saw my usual and fave dentist Dr Choy! He did my cleaning for me, and he said even though it's been 11 months since I last had my teeth cleaned and polished, I maintained very well.. especially since I have braces on and it's difficult to keep it clean! Woohoo! So happy!! :D

I'll strive to have perfect teeth! It's the most prominent feature on a person's face.. after the eyes. I think I am blessed with pretty eyes, so the next thing I need to work on is my teeth.

As for my big fat nose, I shall have to comfort myself to thinking that fat nose = prosperity as those old people like to say... But I still envy those people with pretty sharp noses.. I can't really wear nice big frame sunnies cos I don't have the bone structure there to hold it up. :(

Anyway, gotta go prepare.. going to attend a double wedding at Shangri-la hotel! It's Namho's boss' two twin daughters' wedding and I need to go and bath and curl my hair! ^^ More pictures soon!

Essensuals Bugis

UPDATE! [23 June 2011]

Went back to Essensuals Bugis for rebonding and hair colour that costs over S$460 but was very disappointed with the end results. Unfortunately I will not be going back anymore and is now on the lookout for hair salons which charges less but provide better results. Read my other posts by clicking here.

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Just had my hair done at Essensuals Bugis and it's fabulous! :)

Ok, so before I continue.. just to say that I am super fussy about my hair. I think among all my friends, I can rank as the Top 3 for fusspots about hair, or maybe No 1?

If I am having a bad hair day, I will refuse to leave the house. But thank god, recently I am having less "Bad hair days" cos I'm taking care of my hair by doing less dye jobs and chemical treatments.

I remembered horrible experiences like having green hair, permed poodle hair, melting hair that comes off in clumps -- ala cancer patients.. I am not really adventurous when it comes to hair, unlike some youngsters who try sliver hair, purple hair or mohawk. I just want chio, simple to style hair! But sadly, it always eludes me..

Of cos, my bad experiences has scarred me lah, like my evil mum asking the dodgy Pasir Ris salon woman to chop off my long hair when I was 10yrs old and that CCB actually used a shaver to give me a slope down shave at the back of my hair! After that horrible experience, I refused to cut my hair for 5 whole years!

I had the chance to have my hair cut by some of the 'Top stylists' in Singapore.. Including Jean Yip and David Gan, and also countless of "directors" from many salons.. it's either they are super expensive, super snobbish or super cannot-make-it.

Take Jean Yip for example.. You just wanna go in and have a nice haircut with a colour job, when you go counter and pay, they will badger you to sign package and waive off the charges for what you just did. To 'waive off' the $120, you have to buy a $900 package and some stupid products which you don't want. Some will use guilt to spur you into signing.. like "Wah, I do so nice for you why don't you support me?" Some will target on your greed.. like "You get FREE shampoo and today no need to pay leh!!". I hate all these gimmicky shit lah!

I found a few good ones, like Andy from SuperCuts (Tiong Bahru) but I boycott him cos he became very complacent. I support him since Year 2003 lah! If I make an appointment at 1pm and arrived on time, he will take his own sweet time and start to tend to me at 2.30pm! If I hurry him, he will say "Don't worry lah.. Just take cab to your next destination". Like what the fuck!? What's the point of making an appointment if you make me sit there like an idiot? I am not there to read your outdated magazines can!? So I boycott him from year 2009 onwards..

My previous haircuts and treatments were by Elaine from Thomas & Guys at Johor Bahru's City Square. I chanced upon her by accident and she is the director of that salon.. which means she charged RM90 for a haircut, compared to a normal stylist who only charge RM30. That's 3times! I don't mind paying cos it's in Ringgit and the conversion rate is quite high for Singapore dollars. The only tedious thing is the journey there and back. I have to take bus to Queen Street, than take the JB Express, cross two customs and walk across the bridge to City Square.. the journey there takes around 1hr+ and total around 3hours. After a few times, sadly.. she became complacent like Andy and the same thing happens. I will book an appointment at 1pm and when I arrived, she will say "Eh.. you go walk walk first, come back at 3pm can? I got customer now." SUPER WHATTHEFUCK!?!?!?! Damn angry like siao! Hello woman! I come all the way from Singapore leh! The last time I went was in November last year before my Korea trip.

I dyed my hair in December in Taiwan, than afterwards did not manage to find a place which suits my standards and budget (I cannot afford $500 haircuts! And it's not really good lor!).. Also, Wany says whoever in their right minds trust a man without hair to cut your hair?!

I happened to go online and google a bit and found out about Essensuals!

Of cos I did a lot of homework lah, finding out when they started, who went before, which celebrity did their hair there, who are the hairstylists and where were they from.. Abit OTT, but it's my hair leh!!

They are having this great promotion, $109 for cut/treatment/colour! Damn good deal! Add additional $4o for my hair length (near to bra strap), only $149.. not bad considering they are affiliated with Toni&Guys..

Also, found out that quite a number of bloggers in Singapore are sponsored by Essensuals Bugis, so I went to read and see their end results.. looks quite nice, but I am very skeptical about brands or products sponsoring bloggers to do an advertorial or write-up about it.. I mean, who is so honest enough to give a good honest review when the product/service is free of charge or when they are paid for it? And nowadays, kids are so smart with photoshop.. not nice also can make nice lah!

Bloggers sponsored by Esseunsuals Bugis~

This is my honest review about the place. I am not paid for it, not sponsored and no freebies were given.. But I did get an additional $20 discount cos Bryan said we "clicked off"! There was a $40 surcharge for my hair length but he only charged me $20. Very nice of him!

I made an appointment yesterday, hoping I can go in but they were full.. So I made an appointment for today instead and Wany was free to accompany me! :)

Mushroom Space Head!

Wany has virgin hair.. Never dyed, never permed, never rebond, never coloured.. So she confirm not doing colour lah! Hahaha! She's doing the cut/treatment/blow for $50. She think got GST excluded cos usually promotions got gimmicks one, but the GST is either included or they don't have GST cos Wany paid $50 flat. :)

After the treatment, Wany's hairstylist cut her hair! Super nice! I saw the whole process cos my chair was turned towards her while they put on the dye for me..

I super love her pixie cut! So sweet!

Than she has to wait 2 hours for me cos my colouring takes a longer time. Sorry Wany!

Here's the left-overs after they applied it to my hair. :D

I didn't choose the colour myself. I left it to Bryan, the director to choose it for me. He gave me a very detailed hair consultation, explaining to me why I couldn't have bangs cos it will shorten my face and make it rounder (fatter). Haix. Also explaining why I got mushroom head syndrome cos my previous stylist cut my bottom too thin and the top has too much hair.. So I need not rebond it, but just need to trim and cut..

He asked how I know about his salon, told him I googled lor.. And I also read some blogs promoting the place.. Told him I got blog also, but it's for friends lah, small scale one. I am not that cool like those youngsters blog. My blog is like my diary.. complain about stuff, post some happy stuff. Haha!

If you choose Bryan as your stylist, you have to top up $40 for Bryan's services cos he is the director, but it's worth every cent! :)

He is SUPER MAD YOUNG! Like 1 year older than me only lah! I was like "Ehh.. I think you early thirties or late twenties, cos you like so successful liao".. than he said "Haha! I'm 26!".

Super T_T" moment, cos I am 25 but I am nuaing at home while he is running a salon AND planning to open a branch!? WTH! I am so useless. I need to go and bang the wall liao.

I also told him that his staff damn siao-on, cos 2am still on Twitter.. than he laughed again and said "Eh, don't like that lah.. I cannot sleep mah!".. It's him answering tweets! Now we know! ^^

I also shared with him my horrible hair experiences, that's why I am so super paranoid and scared about trying new hairstylists.. but he is really sincere and friendly and did not put on any airs.. also made me feel very comfy and I trust him so much (even though 1st time let him cut), than I let him...

CUT OFF SO MUCH OF MY HAIR!

Ehh, usually I only let people cut off maximum 1 inch of my hair lah! This is like 3 inches plus?!?! I am so amazed at myself..

He asked one of his stylists to dry my hair and set it with wavvy curls... super taitai-ish! Mad love!

Here's me with the young and successful hairstylist, Bryan~

I hope to repeat this wonderful experience again soon and wish with fingers crossed that I won't be disappointed the next time I visit and it's not a one-off good experience. If I do visit again, I will definitely blog about it yah? :)

If you are keen, please call and make appointment before going down~

Essensuals Hairdressing
241A Victoria Street, Bugis Village
(Above Burger King)
email: bugis@essensuals.com.sg

+65 6333 0039

Petopia 1st Runner Up!

Petopia posted the pictures of the winners of the Valentine's Contest..

Chloe looks so dazed.. Hahahaha! Thank you Petopia!

Chomp Chomp!

Joyce & Yaya came to TTS to visit Pipimon! They bought bubbletea and waffles for me and Pipi! :)

After sitting and chatting for a few hours, Joyce's bf came and picked us up and we went for a late-dinner/supper at ChompChomp! Initially wanted to go Newton Circus and eat Black Pepper Crabs, but they were closed for Spring cleaning! Wah damn suay. So in the end Wayne brought us to ChompChomp..

Look at the food! :D

Yummy chicken wings! $1 each!

Yummy Lalas! We ate two plates!

Yaya amazed by the lime.. T_T"

Happy Joyce with the giant cup of sugarcane! $2.50!

Many thanks to Wayne for giving me a ride home and also both Yaya & Joyce for coming down to accompany me and Pipimon :)

Why I joined and left the travel trade, again.

People keep asking me.. why you quit? Why you leave? Especially since my boss at Nam Ho even promoted me to Supervisor position within 2 months of me joining the company cos he believed in my ability.

So many whys, and I always give different answers, depending on my mood.

I'm in a "sharing mood" today, so I shall answer the question truthfully and to the best of my ability..

Ask any tourleader for their reason to be in the trade. Most of them will say they like to travel, they like to meet new people, they need to feed their families, they want to see the world..

For me, the reason why I like to lead tours is because I enjoy seeing families having fun together and being a family unit.

You may think it's a stupid reason, or you may also think I am bullshitting.. But it's true. Seeing the beautiful and heart-warming family 'moments' really reminds me of my own happy family memories before our family was broken up and I was cast aside like garbage because I am too stubborn and had "principles".

I remember when I was very young.. like 6 years old.. My mum's sister asked me a very serious question: "Who will you follow if your parents divorced?". That's a very weird question to ask a 6 year old, but strangely I remembered my answer very clearly: "Neither." Fast forward today, I am standing by my word.. not because I choose to, but because I was forced to.

It's difficult for people to understand why I have such strong negative feelings for my parents. Well, I shall not wash dirty linen in public, but bottom-line is.. you will not know or understand how I feel cos you did not go through the same experience as me. You can say "it's just a misunderstanding" or other stupid reasons that are based on assumptions and what you think you know.. It's easy to talk when you have a roof over your head, an inheritance waiting for you, loving family that are you can have dinners with and share everything with. You really don't understand or will ever understand until you are standing in the shoes I am in right now.

I really don't understand. Like, having Chloe as a pet.. I can't even imagine giving her away, abandoning her and even the thought of her having to die in a short span of 10-15 years sometimes send me into panic attacks and I will cry like siao and go and hug her and somehow she will know I am upset and start licking me nonstop and sitting on my lap and cuddling me and refuse to leave my side.. I cannot imagine my life without her. If I can have such strong feelings for a dog, and even a dog can show affection and love, how can my own parents be so heartless?

Kids with divorced parents usually have one parent who want to fight for their custody and care for them and love them. If they are lucky, both parents will vie for their love and attention and shower them with the best they can give so they will gain the child's affection and make-up to them for breaking up the family and also for their failed marriage.

For me, it's like the chinese saying: "两头不靠岸". My mum never loved me and my dad stopped loving me. My two siblings are lucky, because they have both sides' love. My mum brings them on holidays and dinners and give them pocket money. They are staying with my dad in his East Coast Condominum and being driven around in their numerous cars and going on holidays and receiving pocket money.

When I was younger, my favoruite time of the year will always be when the whole family getting to go oversea for a holiday. That is the only time I am able to see my Daddy from morning till night for a whole week! It's the only time where our family can spend quality time together and be a proper family where we sleep together, play together and have all our meals together!

So, when I am on my tour leading.. I always imagine myself to be that little girl where her Daddy helped her wear her skiing shoes and teached her to ski on the ski slopes, or the little boy whose Mummy constantly fussed over and bought him all his favourite food. I envy the girls whose Daddy brought to the clothing shops and helped them pick out clothes and paying for them. Or the Mummy who bought toys back for her kids who did not come on her holiday..

If you were one of my customers, you would have noticed that I absolutely love taking pictures for you and your family. I'm always at the side waiting for you to whip out your camera. You did not even have to ask me.. I will come over and smile and help you take pictures at different angles so you can choose your favourite ones and delete the ones you don't like. That's because I want to help your family preserve and keep the happy memories on film forever.

Sometimes, I meet extra nice customers and they treat me as family. They invite me to take photos with them, buy me yummy food, and even offered to match-make me with their son/newphew/cousin (though I have to politely decline. Haha)! I am blessed to even have some of them becoming my friends and they also keep me in their thoughts and never forget me when they go on other holidays and buy me souveniers.

It's really difficult to keep putting up a cheerful facade and happy face all the time. It's really really tiring. Don't you know that the sometimes, the happier someone seems.. it may because they are hiding a lot of sadness in their life and they just want to appear to be strong?

So... this is the 1 and only reason why I joined the travel trade, seeing families having fun together.. But sometimes, it also makes me so depressed. :( That's why I left, again.

Will I go back again? Maybe.. when I am stronger to overcome my own personal obstacles.

Steamboat & Little Red Riding Hood with Wany!

Pipimon is still in the hospital, so Wany asked me out for a movie date! :)

We went to Nex Mall and had lunch before our movie.. We ate buffet steamboat at this Jap-inspired place..

It's $18 all in for drinks, food, dessert.. so we decided to give it a try. But the dodgy place had no food covers for the food on the conveyor belt! How can? Why NEA never come and catch huh? I think maybe no one complain.. Should I??

The Panda cake were really fishy.. horrible. 

But the star-shaped ones were nice!

:D

After lunch we went to tabao my fave bubbletea drink..

Wany wearing skirt plus leggings woah!! Mai siao siao!

The movie was good, but the ending a bit abrupt. As usual lah. Haix.

Afterwards went to tabao Freshness Burger for Pipimon than chiong back to Tan Tock Seng before the end of the visiting hours of 8pm.. Hope he gets discharged soon! I've been shuttling between home and hospital for the past week.. :(

Dinner @ Park Royal Beach Road

Was invited to a dinner with Mum, sis, bro and sis' boyfriend.

I am very rarely asked along with such advance notice.. so I went after accompanying Pipimon at the hospital.. Not sure when he will be discharged cos they are still doing lots of tests on him.

As usual, the moment my mum sees me she starts saying I am fat, put on so much weight, blah blah. She keep forgetting that my fat genes are from her and she is no stick figure herself.

Don't you hate it when your mum keep picking on your appearance? Especially since your genes were given by them and if they are fat, you are fat lah! I always wanna tell her, why can't you be a super model with a sharper nose instead of such a fat nose so I can look better? Tsk.

Took a blurry shot with my sister.. This camera's self-shot really CMI. I prefer my older Samsung's self-shot function..

My mum gave her money and she took out her wallet to put the money in and I was like "WHY YOU TAKE MY WALLET?!"

Turned out we have the same exact wallet..

Hers on the left, mine on the right. Obviously mine is more "seasoned". Mine is a 21st birthday gift from Joyce, Yaya & Money.. hers is "found somewhere in the house". See? Living the high life until can anyhow find branded wallet to use. T_T"

After dinner, three of them took the 1st cab home and me & mum waited for another cab to Boon Keng when she will take the direct bus home.

Her attitude with and without my siblings around is totally different. She is acting as the "perfect mum" who gives them money, brings them on holidays and treat them nice dinners.. also trying to be kind and understanding, but that is totally not her true nature. She just became silent when my siblings left, and her body language and tone are totally different. Of cos, both my siblings are too young and naive to see through her act.. but whatever lah. I am super jaded and tired of all these nonsense. Let her continue to play the perfect mum to them and she can continue to be the mum who is biased and prejudiced against me. She just better stop complaining to other people saying I am unfilial and shit, because I won't take that lying down anymore. How can you be filial to a mother who never loved you? Steal from you? Make use of you? I am better off without one.

Anyway, happy that my bro seems more matured and grown up now.. He's in NS now and will be going to NUS to study Astrophysics. My sister is taking her A levels this year and is also planning to go to NUS.

I am also thinking about my future recently.. I missed out a lot when I was younger and I hope to further my studies as well, since EVERYONE is having a degree nowadays. Shall go plan and work for it.