Revelation

From tonight's episode at home:

Me: Do you want ginseng chicken soup?
Brother: No.
Me: Why not? It's good for you.
Brother: No.

*5 minutes later I placed a bowl of ginseng soup in front of him*

An hour later:

Me: Do you want probiotic pills?
Brother: No.
Me: It's good for you.
Brother: Okay, I'll have one.
Me: Take two.
Brother: Okay.


















Is this a revelation of the kind of mother I will be? O o...

Help

I'm struggling for healthy breakfast ideas. After months of the usual yoghurt and muesli routine, I'm getting tired of it. I don't quite like drinking milk, plus I never finish my carton of milk in the fridge hence milk with muesli is not an option.

I don't quite like eating toast because it's not enticing enough and it's not exactly healthy.


What's a healthy, yummy and easy-to-make breakfast alternative?

New blog header

haha, i created it because i wanted to play around with photoshop. Don't think it will be up for long though, only till I come up with something better (or more meaningful).

Out with the old and in with the new

Its 12 am and I'm a hyper bunny right now. I just had two cups of coffee and a pot of tea! I was out for coffee with a bunch of girlfriends and I was really zoning out of the conversation. My mind gets that way sometimes but tonight I was so out of it to the point that I think I was being downright rude.

"So jo, are you coming for the event?"

"Sorry, what event again?"

"Event xyz"

"Em, when is it again?"

So coffee it was! Felt much better after that. Unfortunately, I'm really hyper right now. I will use my energy to blog!

Anyway, a month ago, I've decided to make the courageous move to chop off my long hair. I've been deliberating for a while but I've never had the guts to do it. You see its a big deal to me because the last time I had short hair, I was 4 years old. After that, it was long hair all the way.

Long hair felt like a safety net. Horrible fringe? That's okay, your long hair will make up for it. Chubby cheeks? Your long hair will cover it. Hairdresser having pms and gave you a bad hair cut? Get your hair cut again - there's room (hair) for error.

One fine day, last month, I've decided to book an appointment at the hairdressers. Counting down to THE day, I've sought various opinions from different people on whether I should make that bold move. I think there were 9 nays and only 1 ay. So on the day of the appointment, I decided to cancel my slot. But when i arrived, I felt bad for doing a last minute cancellation and thought that I should just get a trim anyway.

An hour later, I walked away with a short bob and feeling 100 kgs lighter. Allow me to tell you what changed my fickle mind again.

It was simple. It was the hairdresser's taunting. She taunted me, I tell you. It was like a dare.

Upon sitting down on the chair, she asked me, "How would you like your hair cut?"

Me: Do you think short hair would suit me?

She: Short hair can suit anyone. It depends on whether you like it or not.

Me: Hm, but what do you think works for me?

10 second pause

She: You should just stick with long hair.

Me: Why?

Another 10 second pause (I think it was deliberate, for dramatic effect)

She: Cause you're not ready.

Me: Why do you say that?

She: Cause I just know it. I can see it in a customer. I'll know whether she is ready or not. You are not ready.

Me: What? Maybe I'm ready. I want to cut my hair short.

She: Most customers walk in here thinking they are ready but really, they are not. They walk away regretting their decisions. I don't want you to regret yours.

Me: I'm ready! Cut my hair short.

She: You sure you won't regret this?

Me: I'm sure. Just do it now before i change my mind. Quickly, take the first snip!

So within seconds, she chops off a huge chuck of my hair.

And you know what, I felt nothing - no regret nor pain. On the contrary, I immediately embraced my new look. In fact, I'm thinking of cutting it even shorter. Since it's already short, I might as well go for the full effect. After all, hair grows =)


Using Mac webcam




When my hair is styled

The eye

I'm finally making use of my wacom tablet. For the first time ever, I've decided to experiment in digital art. It is so fascinating! Sigh, should have discovered this earlier! I'm having a ball just playing with my tablet and experimenting with different colours and digital tools!

Drawing/painting digitally was quite daunting initially because its definitely not the same as drawing on paper. You can't physically blend colours together and its a strange feeling having to look elsewhere (screen) while your pen manouvers around the tablet. I was really clumsy with the digital pen at first but after a while, I started warming up to it.

Here's my first sketch ever~! It's very raw but I'm quite satisfied considering this is my first try =)




Same piece as above, but i added subtle "noise" (texture) to the skin.

I'm loving my disney songs

Ever since I can remember, my dad had always complains that "they don't make songs like they used to anymore". He claims that modern songs are mostly just noise without any real meaning. And every time some current singer makes a remake of a classic old song, my dad goes, "you see, songs of my generation are so good that modern singers make a remake of them."

*roll eyes*

But in recent years, I've been catching myself saying the same stuff as my dad as well.

They don't make disney movies like they used to anymore!

Disney movies these days have no meaning. The young audience only want to laugh at silly things the cartoon characters do. I miss the whole wicked stepmother, prince charming and happy ever after concept. Nobody can get bored of a good fairy tale. In my opinion, the last great disney movie was toy story (the fact that the soundtrack was awesome is an added bonus). Okay, and maybe..finding Nemo.

Other that that, boo yah. nothing great.

Here are some of my favourite disney songs:

Mulan: A girl worth fighting for


Cinderella: Mouse song


The little Mermaid: Kiss the girl


Beauty and the Beast: Belle

Clash of the Titans (2010)

I don't know how this movie made it to the cinemas. It should have gone straight to the dvd rental store. I have nothing too much to say about this film because in summary, its exceptionally bad. Full stop. Rotten tomatoes critics rate it at 30%.

Visual effects: On the first sight of the Roman gods, I couldn't help but burst out laughing (perhaps this movie should be in the 'comedy' category). The visual effects were so...1980s. It looked like normal humans were filmed and subsequently, the movie makers put some sort of glowing ring around their bodies to give them this god-like effect. Hello, we are in the 21st century. I'm sure we can get better visual effects than that with our current technology!

Script: There was nothing clever about the script. Every single line was predictable and cliche that it was so cringe-worthy. Such as, "I've been watching over you...We belong together."

3-d: Why bother with the 3-d effects? There were hardly any scenes that required it. The use of the 3-d effects was not creative at all. There was nothing really popping up or etc that made you feel like you were part of the movie (that's the point of the 3d effect right, to make you feel that props in the movies are floating out of the screen and into the seat you are sitting in). Instead, we have to endure murky visuals wearing 3-d glasses that gave me a headache. This movie will work perfectly the same way 2-d. I read somewhere that the 3-d effects were incorporated at the very last minute. It definitely looked like a very rushed job.

And I expected many more battle scenes. The Kraken who is suppose to be this deadly formidable creature didn't even have a battle scene at all. All the Kraken did was flip around in the ocean like a giant squid, made a few roars and then was immediately killed by Perseus (demi-god protoganist).

When they were making this expensive film, didn't anyone tell the director, Louis Leterrier what was wrong? It doesn't take a genius to see that this movie was badly made. I'm fine with badly made low-budget films but I always feel disappointed when I see a badly made big-budget movie that had so much potential to be developed into a great film.

Relationship between exercise and sleep

This year, I've taken up kickboxing as a form of exercise. I try to attend about 2-3 sessions per week. The class is pretty intense and most people there are EXTREMELY fit. I'm talking about guys & girls with black belts in karate. They train pretty much everyday. After a kickboxing session, they would run back to the changing room, change into their karate outfits and then join the karate class. On the other hand, I'll be so buggered that all I'll be thinking about is food and water.

Yesterday I had a pretty intense session as I had a 45 minute personal training session which was immediately followed by the usual 1.5 hour class. At the end of it, my hands were trembling so much, I had difficulty typing smses (My hands are still trembling today. I tried to paint earlier but failed pathetically).

That being said, last night, I had the best sleep ever. I immediately fell into dreamland the moment my head touched the pillow. Today is one of those rare days that I woke up feeling extremely fresh despite sleeping for only 6 hours. Good sleep is a rare treat for me as I usually wake up feeling like death has hit me despite sleeping a good 8 hours. I attribute this treat to my intense workout yesterday. Bring it on!

Salt attack

Dad has been cooking lots. As much as I appreciate the gesture, I always shudder at the amount of salt he uses in the food. We always tease him by asking him whether he is enjoy his dish of salt or soy sauce and whether that piece of chicken/pork/beef is a good condiment for his dish.

Eat less sodium kids! Excessive salt is bad for you.

From BBC News

Why is too much salt bad?

In adults, when levels of sodium are too high, the body retains too much water and the volume of bodily fluids increases.

Many scientists, although not all, believe this process is linked to high blood pressure, or hypertension, which in turn is linked to a greater risk of coronary heart disease and stroke.

With high levels of fluid circulating through the brain there is a greater chance that weaknesses in the brain's blood vessels are exposed, and that they may burst, causing a stroke.

Similarly, a greater volume of fluid passing through the heart can place additional strain on the organ, increasing the possibility of coronary disease.

However, there are many potential causes of hypertension and coronary heart disease, and some scientists deny that salt plays any significant role at all.

An adult will be able to remove salt from the body through the kidneys into the urine.

However, very young babies do not have the capacity to process large quantities of salt as the kidneys are not yet developed.

If they are given adult food with a higher salt content before they are at least four months old, excess sodium can accumulate in the body, causing kidney, liver and brain damage, and in very occasional cases, death.

It is recommended that babies are given only milk, whether breast or formula, for the first four months of life.

Baby foods are supposed to contain lower levels of salt, and it is recommended that if adult foods are to be given, unprocessed foods should be used, and no salt added.

How much salt should we eat?

The government recommends that adults should eat 6g of salt a day. However, the average intake of salt is between 9g and 10g a day.

Experts estimate that if average consumption was cut to 6g a day it would prevent 70,000 heart attacks and strokes a year.

The main sources of salt in the diet are processed foods and salt added during cooking or at the table. Meat and meat products, and bread can also be high in salt.

Processed foods are thought to account for around 75% of the average person's salt intake.

However, research published in The Lancet medical journal suggested that most people could not tell the difference between loaves with markedly different salt content.

Salt is added to processed foods to aid preservation and to improve taste. Sodium is present in additives such as monosodium glutamate and sodium bicarbonate.

Small amounts of sodium can be found naturally in some foods such as eggs and fish.

The salt we sprinkle on our food from cellar accounts for only 10%-15% of our intake.

Weekend rambles

1. Sometimes I feel frustrated/sad whenever I see blog posts on Forever 21, Victoria Secret or anything U.S. related! Because everything there is so darn cheap compared to Australia. For example, a decent looking dress from Forever 21 is about 20 dollars. Australia's equivalent to U.S. Forever 21 is probably Supre. I walked into Supre the other day and a pair of shorts is $40!!! Woe is me. I've hardly bought anything from Australia the past few years because I can't bring myself to buy such expensive stuff when I know I can get it cheaper elsewhere.

2. Leon: the professional! I'm more in love with Natalie Portman than ever before. I've recently watched her first debut film and fell in love with little 11 year old Portman. I don't think she was meant to be the main character of the film but she definitely stole the show. Her character was extremely complex as her 11-year old character had a fatherly-romantic relationship with a man in his mid-40s. I know it sounds really wrong yet it came out so innocently beautiful. There was nothing lustful in the film but rather two lonely and lost characters finding each other and in that, found a new meaning and hope to life.

3. Make up! Wei Chee described me as a late bloomer because I've only recently been fascinated with make up! I bought 2 sets of 88 make up palette over the internet ($20 each!) and have been experimenting with the colours. I'm so happy. I feel like my face is a piece of canvas and I'm creating art.

4. Speaking of painting, I've been spending so much of my spare time painting! After this painting episode is over, I won't be touching my paint brushes for the next....few months! I'll post up pictures when I'm done!

5. Run for the kids. I recently joined a 14.6km charity run. Note to self: never ever gulp down protein shake + yoghurt 30 minutes before your run! Let's just say I had stitches even before the ran began. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the run. I love massive events - the fact that everyone is united for a single cause is so beautiful!

6. Garden report - Sigh, one of plants have been attacked by fungus and its slowly dying on me!!! The rest of the plants are thriving. I've been having meals out on my balcony, basking in the summer/autumn heat. I love checking on my plants progress and watching new leaves sprount and new flowers blossom. It's like watching a miracle performed before your eyes.

The Hurt Locker - Best Picture Oscar win

The Hurt Locker, which churned out only $20 million in worldwide box office snagged the Best Picture Oscar award at the 82nd Academy Awards, along with 5 other awards. The win came as a surprise to me and to many others as Avatar was favoured to win. It was the lowest-grossing best picture winner of all time. Hurt Locker cost a mere $11 million to make compared with the more than $230 million cost of Avatar.

How did this low budget and low revenue movie (which was going to bypass the Australia cinemas and straight into the dvd stores) win so many awards?

This film centres on a three-man U.S. Army bomb squad stationed in Baghdad. The team leader, William James goes around Baghdad city examining and defusing IEDs (homemade bombs). The two other men provide rifle cover while he does his job.

This Iraq war film is very much unlike most Iraq war films I've seen. Although it's not a typical Hollywood combat film, the focus is very much on the emotional and psychological side of the war. That being said, this film is still very much suitable for men to watch. The movie left me hanging off the edge of my seat throughout the entire duration. Unlike a typical movie where there's a built up of the storyline, climax and then conclusion, this show seems to be at a climax throughout the entire duration. Sometimes the stretching of anxiety makes it unbearably painful to watch. It makes me want to scream, "where's the downtime/comic relief where the men go back to their bunks, play cards, talk about women and ogle at their pictures like in all typical Hollywood war films?"

The thrill and beauty of this film lies in the stripped-down simplicity of the movie. All you feel is the rustling wind. All you hear is the occasional buzzing of the flies swarming in the sweltering dessert heat. All you see is the enemy. All the enemy sees is you. All that lies between you and the eye of the enemy are your guns. And the only thing that determines life or death is the trigger. You wonder whether you are going to die the next minute. And then you wait…for the right time. Because precision and timing determine everything. Wrong move, you die. Right move, he dies.

And while James does his job defusing IEDs, locals stand on their balconies, peep out windows and stare at them. You wonder who are the mere civilians and who are your enemies? How do you tell? The team’s lives are possibly in danger yet they wouldn’t want to go on a shooting rampage, taking away innocent lives. Can you imagine being in that scenario for an entire year of your life? Unsure whether you are allowing your enemy to take away your life simply because you mistook him/her for an innocent bystander. The tension! I guess it came to the point where they countdown and look forward to the end of each day not because tomorrow is going to be different but because they were one day closer to leaving Iraq.

Also, this film sinks in a slight feeling of futility. In some ways, it seems like the war is pointless. You detonate a bomb, another one is planted tomorrow. You kill an enemy, a replacement comes in tomorrow. What is the point of war then? The war seemed to screw some people up – like James who is a very brave soldier and is darn good at his job. But he didn’t seem to care whether he lived or die. Denoting bombs to him seem more like a challenging piece of art rather than a mission done for a greater cause. He was in Iraq to escape the confines of the usual domestic life – like the message shown at the start of the movie stating, 'the rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.”

To conclude, this movie is really good but I’m not sure whether it’s deserving of its Best Picture award. Maybe because I’m bias. I love Avatar. It’s the only movie I voluntarily watch in the cinema twice (oops, I lied. I watched Slumdog twice as well).

I have many other things to say about this movie, like my slight discontentment with certain parts of the movie. For example, the ending left me wondering whether the film was pro-war or against the war? There was no real stand, which made the movie slightly unfocused. For me, being able to nail themes of a movie is very important. But in this case, I found the movie slightly unfocused…a little to much of it was left to the interpretation of the audience. But then again, it classified itself as an arthouse film.

Other points:
The film set was also in Jordan, some parts of it lies only a few miles away from the border of Iraq, increasing the authenticity of the film.

In addition, the movie was mostly filmed from a hand-held camera giving it the feeling that you are THERE, standing a few meters away.

Of food poisoning and golf balls

This weekend, I've been down with a bout of food poisoning. Not cool at all. The suspect? A tiny piece of raw king fish I had for lunch yesterday at a little Japanese Cafe in Chinatown. How does one tiny piece of fish cause me so much pain and grieve?

Backtracking little...I've been taught that life is about causes and effects. So, I was going to meet H in the city for lunch. But the yam char place we intended to patronized was closed. We stood there for about a mere minute at the entrance of the restaurant when objects that looked like...golf balls started falling from the sky! Not kidding. It was freaky (like the 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs' movie) Everyone started running for shelter. Upon closer inspection, the golf balls were actually abnormally huge pieces of ice. It was hailing. Then without any warning, the sky got really angry. I haven't seen Melbourne hit by rain so hard before.

We waited under the shelter for about 30 minutes till the rain subsided a little and then we quickly ran to the nearest eatery which was that dodgy Jap cafe. So really, the real culprit was the golf balls falling from the sky. Had it not hailed, I wouldn't have risked my tummy in that questionable cafe.

And just before, I cooked myself a nice piece of Wagyu steak. It was the most delicious thing I've cooked in a while. The meat was lined with fat that melts in your mouth. So good! I was in euphoria....for about 5 minutes till I instinctively ran to the bin. I could feel my stomach churning.

"Don't puke. Its a good piece of EXPENSIVE steak! Don't puke. Don't puke! You'll need to cook lunch again!" I kept telling myself over and over again.

Let's just say my meditation did not work. I'll keep the gross details to myself.




At Flinders Street Station


Fancy a swim?

Source of pics

Braised Lamb Shanks with Rosemary

If you're planning for a dinner party but don't have much time to cook on the day of the party, here's a good recipe for you. This braised lamb can be prepared days in advanced - in fact, its probably better because the sauce will taste richer.



A braise is like a stew, but requires less liquid and has a longer cooking time. Allow about two and half hours for the lamb to cook.

Pour with a Cabernet Sauvignon.

Serve 6

Ingredients:
6 lamb shanks
2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped
3 large carrots, peeled, cut into 1/4 inch-thick rounds
10 garlic cloves, minced
3 slices of bacon
1 750-ml bottle dry red wine
1 800 g can diced tomatoes with its juices
1 400 g can low-salt chicken broth
1 400 g can beef broth
5 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel (the rind of 1/2 a lemon)

preparation
Sprinkle shanks with salt and pepper.
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add shanks to pot and cook until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes.
Transfer shanks to bowl.

Add onions, carrots, garlic and bacon to pot and saute until golden, about 10 minutes. Stir in all remaining ingredients. Return shanks to pot, pressing down to submerge. Bring liquids to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover; simmer until meat is tender, about 2hours.

Uncover pot; simmer until meat is very tender, about 30 minutes longer. Transfer shanks to platter, tent with foil. Boil juices in pot until thickened, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon over shanks.

Adapted from epicurious.com

Coffee frenzy

Sensory Lab








I spotted this joint in David Jones as I strolled past this place on my way to get some groceries. My plan of having a quiet night was immediately dismissed as I stepped into this place. Out of the blue, a friend who was patronising the place called out my name , I joined him and his friend for coffee and we subsequently made our way to a long dinner.

To some coffee lovers, this place might seem a little pretentious and overly commercialised - with the staff wearing lab coats and the expensive interior. But there will always be a tension between keeping it "real" and commercialising it. On one hand, commercialing a place might make it lose its authenticity. On the contrary, commercialising it exposes the world of coffee to non-coffee geeks like me. My usual response to coffee is "mmm...this is good" or "this is not very good/the froth is burnt" - needless to say, very limited coffee vocab.

The girl behind the counter spent an entire 10 minutes kindly and enthusiastically dishing out her wealth of knowledge on coffee. In summary, she told me that real coffee is not the coffee as I know it. She tells me to think of coffee as a fruit and not as a bean. I responded, but isn't coffee grinded from its beans? Yes, but the beans are in the fruit, she replied. The coffee that I've been drinking all this while is brewed by one method - the espresso method. In fact, there are many more ways to brewing coffee. She introduced me to the siphoning method of brewing coffee.

Siphoning method:
Grind the coffee, add it to the top vessel. Add cold (or hot) water to the bottom. Put the bottom on a heat source. Add the top vessel with its attached siphon. Watch. Liquids defy gravity. The brew gurgles, but it's not boiling. Remove from heat source. Watch the coffee move back down, or "south". Watch the bottom vessel's brewed coffee gurgle as air is drawn through the spent grounds to release the built up vacuum. Remove top vessel. Smell. Ahhh. Pour. Taste. More ahhhh.
Source

My reaction to my first taste of siphoned coffee?

It taste nothing like the coffee I know but like bitter fruit juice.

For now, I'm still sticking to my usual coffee - espresso method but I will test new waters once in a blue moon.

Sensory Lab
David Jones
297, Little Collins Street
Melbourne

Dead man espresso












Saturday lunch saw me at Dead man's espresso. The timber shutters and concrete columns provide a very nice, classy ambience.

Again I can't comment much on the coffee, lest I embarass myself. In summary, coffee is good.

A word on the food. A fly on the wall told me that the food here is suppose to be excellent. Matt Preston (THE food critic) gave the food raving reviews - particularly the BLT pork belly sandwich. With high expectations, I ordered my meal enthusiastically. The BLT sandwich came with an absolutely delicious tomato soup. I'm not one for thick sour tomato juice but the tomato soup had an easy and good consistency for swallowing, it was not too sour and the broth they added into it was amazing. The pork belly was sandwiched between two slices of toasted bread that was laced up with some sort of herby-pesto filling. It was light and flavourful. A word on the pork belly. hm...i thought that was the most disappointing bit. I found the pork belly slightly dry and very thinly sliced. Maybe it was suppose to be like that - but the flavours from the pesto filling seemed to have overpowered the pork belly taste. Sigh, almost perfect but not quite.

Overall, I give the place 7/10. Most points for the ambience plus coffee. The food was good but a tad overpriced.

Dead Man Espresso
35 Market Street, South Melbourne


St Ali


















I'm loving this water truck.






St. Ali itself.

Saturday was a brilliant day not only because our happy stomachs were full from all the Dead Man Espresso goodness but because it was St. Ali's live street art and Laneway party. Graffiti artists were invited to paint the lane St Ali was situated on. Good crowd. Met quite a few people. Really kewl stuff. There was a dj playing. Booze. Mmm.. and of course, coffee from St. Ali.

St. Ali
12-18, Yarra Place
South Melbourne

Decorating my apartment balcony

From my apartment balcony, you can feast your eyes on the most spectacular view of the city of Melbourne.



However, the balcony is short of anything spectacular. In fact, its bare and ugly - used as a storage for junk.





Last week, I've decided that I've had enough and decided to deck up my balcony. It was a pretty whimsical idea, impulsively decided while I was having a shower. Later that night, I spent a good few hours reading up on different potted plants to buy. And oh boy, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.

I imagined myself driving over to the nursery, pick out a few potted plants and ta-da, the balcony will be all so nice and pretty. But alas, good things never come easy.

To my surprise and amusement, there are so many factors to consider. Firstly, the wind. Because I live pretty high up, it tends to get pretty windy out on the balcony. Hence, I can't buy plants that are too small in case they topple over. On the flip side, I can't buy plants that are too big because my balcony is tiny.

The wind also causes plants to dry out quicker. Hence, I need to buy pots that are less susceptible to drying out the roots (terracotta pots dry out plant roots quicker than other pots).

Also because its a covered balcony, it doesn't get the full sun (more than 6 hours of sunlight). It gets sunlight only in the morning but no afternoon sun. It was only when I was at the nursery did I realise that most plants (especially flowering plants) needed full sun .

Plus, what kind of soil do I use?!? And how much do I water? Do I water a little everyday or do I water a lot at a time but only every other day? Did you know that plants need good drainage system, otherwise the roots will rot?

And I needed to get a set of table and chairs. I didn't want anything too expensive yet I didn't want anything too cheap-looking.

So much to think about!

After a couple of stressed-out days, I've finally redecorated my balcony.


I hopped onto gumtree and scouted for a garden set. I came across this beautiful garden set for a decent price. The table top is made of solid marble. And if you study the table closely, you'll notice imprints of fossils on the marble top. The heaviness of it is good to withstand the strong winds. I also like how it has a french feel to it and the colour matches the balcony tiles.


The plant in the gray pot is a Begonia. The fantastic thing about this flowering plant is that it doesn't need the full sun. In fact, in thrives in the partial shade.

In the hanging rattan basket are daisies, lavender and coriander.


On the left, is my little yet-to-grow herb garden in the wooden wheelburrow and in the small pots. I've sowed some thai basil and thyme seeds. Hopefully I'll see little sprouts in a few weeks *cross fingers*


I've painted this painting orange to match the orange-y flowers.


That's an orange million bells plant. This is suppose to be trailing plant. I'm hoping that it will grow and the flowers will overhang from the iron cage. That will be a beautiful sight (if it's still alive by then!)


More plants on the other side of my balcony. In that gray pot is premium potting mix. It's most convenient (but expensive unfortunately) to buy premium potting mix for container plants.

On the table is an oil lamp. I absolutely adore the lamp. It's made of a beautiful white stone and the heavy weight is once again, great for battling strong winds. The oil I bought is suppose to keep mosquitoes away.


On the left is a gardenia plant. In the white pot is rosemary. In the yellow pot is Birds of Paradise which will hopefully produce beautiful colourful flowers. (Can't remember the names of the other two plants).


Silver falls. A foliaged plant which is ideal for hanging baskets.



The past few days, I've been having my breakfast out on the balcony while watching the city pass me by. It's a wonderful feeling. It's these little pleasures that mean so much sometimes...

Now, the trick lies in maintaining and nurturing this garden =)

Siep Reap, Cambodia - Itinerary and tips

Before I forget, here's our itinerary for the Cambodia trip.

Day 1:
Flew into Siem Reap.
Checked into hotel near the Old Market.
Roamed Old Market.
Took a tuk tuk to Phnom Bakheng, an Angkor temple built on top of a hill, to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, the whole affair is a bit of a circus act. It was almost impossible to find a good standing spot (let alone, sit) to watch the sunset. The temple was jam-packed with tourists and there were hundreds of tuk tuk drivers parked and waiting at the bottom of the hill for their returning customers. It was almost a miracle that we manage to locate our tuk tuk driver amongst the many tuk tuk drivers.

Headed back to the city, had dinner, roamed around the night market and a massage. Cheap massages are a plentiful in the city (costing between USD$8 - USD$10)

The town wasn't as shabby and dead as people made it out to be. We actually had quite a blast in the little town. There were a few street bustling with restaurants and streetfood cafes catered for tourists. There are a couple of night markets around. Sure, you shouldn't expect a vibrant nightlife like Bangkok but it was definitely good enough for us.

*Tip: Your ticket allows you to enter the Angkor area for free the day before after 5 pm. For example, if you bought a one-day pass for Sunday, you are permitted to enter the Angkor area after 5 pm on Saturday*

Day 2:
Rented bicycles, cycled to Angkor Wat (Small City). We really enjoyed our cycling experience. Bicycles are cheap to hire (USD$2 per day) and it's good exercise too. Another plus point is that you can roam the temples at your own pace without worrying about having no transport back or having the tuk tuk driver wait on you. A note of caution: you need to be relatively fit if you were to cycle to the temples. We probably cycled about 50km that day.

Angkor Wat is the largest and undoubtedly the most breahtaking of the monuments at Angkor and is widely believed to be the largest religious structure in the world. It is simply unique, a stunning blend of spirituality and symmetry, an enduring example of man's devotion to his gods. Relish the very first approach, as that spine-tickling moment when you emerge on the inner causeway will rarely be felt again. It is the best-preserved temple at Angkor, as it was never abandoned to the elements and repeat visits are rewarded with previously unnoticed details: Lonely Planet guidebook 2009.

We hired an unofficial local guide to take us around the temple. Our guided tour experience was an amusing one. We called it the "Slumdog millionaire syndrome". Do you remember the part in the movie where Jamil played tour guide to tourists at the Taj Mahal:

"The wife died in a car accident"

"I thought she died from child labour"

"Exactly sir, she died on the way to the hospital..."

Our tour guide's explanation wasn't exactly correct. I checked my guidebook a couple of times and found his explanations quite contradictory. We could have asked him whether pigs flew and he would have agreed with us to keep us happy. But it was all part of the fun. heh.

After spending a good three hours at Angkor Wat, we cycled to Angkor Thom (Big City). Angkor Thom was built in the late 1wth century and was one of the largest Khmer cities. The most photographed feature of this monumental construction would probably be its towers with four faces pointing in each of the cardinal directions.

Cycled back to the city.

Had dinner at one of the street food stalls.

Massage.

Day 3:
Headed to the floating villages of Chong Kneas on Tonle Sap Lake. If you want a break from the temples, you should take an excursion to the villages. Everything there was literally floating = floating shops, floating homes, floating restaurants, floating schools. Imagine living on water your entire life! Mind you, it is quite touristy and you might get irritated by the local kids pestering you for money. You need to take a tuk tuk to the Phnom Krom dock and then hire a boat.

After that, we decided to continue our boat ride to the flooded forest of Kompong Phluk. We fell in love with the locals in this place. It's definitely not as touristy as the floating villages and managed to interact quite a fair bit with the locals. The friendly village is made up of houses that are built on bamboo stilts of about 6m to 7m high. It's definitely an interesting sight and I think, its worth the visit. O, you can also take a boat ride through the flooded mangroves.

Day 4:
We headed back to the Angkor temples. The first temple we visited was Ta Prohm. This temple is definitely a must see! The temple has a msytical atmosphere about it because of the trees that have grown intertwined amoung the ruins. This temple was also intentionally left unrestored to retain that natural mystical feel. The popularity of this temple have been intensified ever since the film Tomb Raider (2001) was filmed here.

We then went to the East Mebon temple to watch the sunset. Even though this temple is packed with tourists during sunsets, it is still not overruned by tourists unlike Phnom Bakheng. I much prefer this temple for sunset viewing purposes. You can actually secure a place to sit here!

Headed back to the city, dinner.

Day 5
We went for a quad bike tour. It was definitely a good experience for all of us. We rode through villages and paddy field. We also made a one-hour stop at an orphanage. The children there are extremely diligent, discipline and smart! A boy I met there picked up the english language only a year ago and his english vocab was already pretty vast. They learn about 3-4 languages in the orphanage including their own local language (Khmer), mandarin, japanese and english.

To book for a quad bike tour, visit www.quad-adventure-cambodia.com.

We checked out of our hotel and moved into the Meredian for our last night. It was a good and relaxing ending to our trip.

Day 6
Relax in hotel. Enjoyed the complimentary buffet breakfast (yum!).

Checked out of hotel.

Adios!

Other tips:
If you have time, you should go for an Aspara dance performance. Its approx. $10-$25 for the Old Cambodian dance performance plus buffet dinner.

You do not have to change your money to Cambodian Riel. Most people deal with USD in Cambodia.

You are expected to tip the locals for their services. USD$1 should be sufficient. (You Americans have spoilt the market!!!)

Siem Reap, Cambodia 2010

Old Market


Old Market


Cycled to the temples. Cheapest form of transport and needless to say, the most tiring. But definitely the most exciting way to get there.




Oil for motorcycles


Hi cutie.


Angkor Wat










One of the gallery walls in Angkor Wat








Reading on the steps of one of the ancient libraries




Climbing up for a better view of the sunset


The crowd anticipating the sunset


Angkor Thom









Floating Villages on Tonle Sap Lake


In a floating orphanage


We bought chocolate for the kids


Kompong Phluk, 1 1/2 hours away by boat.






Wondering where your dried shrimps come from?


Folding the mats, in case it rains at night


1 USD buys 20 drinks. We bought 20 drinks for the kids. Free drinks = chaos


Get in line or there's none for you.




Fishing baskets




Fancy a haircut?


Schoolchildren hard at work


Volleyball with the locals












Observing from above


Off to visit the mangroves. Everybody is in Angkor beer singlets!






Our little cheeky boatboy










On the way back to Siem Reap. Lazing on the front deck






Siem Reap nightlife


Interesting matchboxes


I like the scribbled floor


Lots of bbq eateries


Ta Phrom temple, where the film Tomb Raider was shot.























Quad biking






Orphanage. A little volunteer teaching the rest of the class.


Goodbye, Siem Reap! Love you long time!