Capetown = SUPER LOVE!!!

just got back from Capetown... as much as i hated missing Kristian's wedding... i must say that this trip is one of the funnest and the most unregrettable one. firstly cos of the destination... its one of the most sought after ones and one which i am really dying to go to. secondly, i got a bunch of totally spontaneous colleagues who are game for everything, so that made the trip all the more worthwhile... all very nice people, very on people, we went sightseeing together, drank till late together, tell each other ghost stories... dine together... like a real family... so its all good...

reaching the hotel, the group of us were so enthusiastic about it that we wanted to move out almost immediately. after some thought, we decided to take it easy and have a good rest for the full day of tour the next day. so we had lunch at a local restuarant nearby with absolutely humongous servings which most of us cannot finish and nearly feel like puking... after that was shopping at a local mart to get the ingredients ready for the nite's party.. drinks and mixers, a giant watermelon, beers and such... Xmas overseas need a bit of celebration too...

Ngeow, Theresa, HUili and me headed out to the beach to take a stroll after doing the grocery... wanted to enjoy the capetownic sun and the super nice coast... which pretty much ended up like a camwhoring session... but at the same time i picked up some phototaking skills from ngeow... before heading back to the room to crash for a while as we haven slept for more than a day and we have a long night ahead with an xmas dinner and party coming up after that. dinner was carried out at the hotel restaurant and we adjorned for drinks after that.. it was all silly games and all the funny incidences and making the slightest mistakes at the simplest games, everyone had a good time laughing and it lasted till into the wee hours of the night, ended with ghost stories telling... not exactly very christmasy but still a good gathering overall...

the next morning we had to wake up early at 8 for the tours... with only some chocolates in my stomach... we headed out to the Table mountain... we were lucky cos the weather is good and sunny.. the scenery is breathtaking overlooking the oceans, and the plateau of capetown.. numerous photos were taken and i mean numerous... got some souvenirs and we are off to the next destination... the seal island. Jasmine was telling me that she got an ostrich egg from capetown... so i was lucky to find it at the harbour and got myself one too.. its really exquisite and beautiful... luckily the boat rides are open cos its afterall christmas day... no one expected them to operate... so its a 40 minutes ride out to the island where the seals are basking on.. some of them got really wet cos the waves are really rough, thou we didnt really expect the seals to smell so bad...

after sealing was lunch at this restaurant by the seaside called Bertha's, they serve very nice seafood... the wait was agonizing long thou cos everyone was starving and we waited for an hour to get served... penguins were up next, its pretty amazing how these little creatures manage to swim across such great distance from Antarctica to get to south africa, having to escape from the predators - the sharks. Cape point and Cape of Good Hope was next, thats like the thing i wanted to see most after Table mountain. The climb up to Cape point was pretty arduous considering that number of steps we have to climb.. but thankfully, i had training from Yeh Liu in Taipei, so it was all expected... beautiful scenery says it all.. we couldnt stop taking photos there and sealing our memories of the place... before heading down to Cape of Good Hope. the coastal place was amazing with all the waves and rock structure, its definitely a place which i wanna revisit again and i hope its soon... so gonna miss this place and my fantastic colleagues who are ever so sporting...

Capetown, Table Mountain, Ostrich Egg, Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope.. I WILL BE BACK!!!

catching up....

these few days been spent on catching up with my friends... friends whom i haven manage to meet cos of clashes in our work schedule... met up with kerson, ling, thams, sandy, venus and julian.. and my beloved batchgirl tang smellyfeet cara.. haha... nice seeing them again after a while... ktving, drinking and talking cocks and the rough play of pinching and boxing each other.. its a guy's game.. only when julian is around actually...

fun nonetheless...

Catching up with Tiphany

just came back from taipei and manage to meet up with Tiphany again... she is really a very good host, like a big sister... came to pick me up, bring me around to run my errands for my aunt and friends... bought me local delicacies at the shihlin night market. no ktv this time thou cos its only me, and anthea is not ard... i din think she let her friends know that i was coming anyway...

actually, for such a short stay, there is only so much you can do for a night in taipei, basically eating and buying some simple stuff, its too far from anywhere to travel out and not enough time too anyway. Tiph brought me to Miramar anyway, to take the Ferris wheel.. supposedly the 2nd biggest in Asia.. she got motion sickness thou, but still gamely took with me... tts wat i call a super good host...

after that was movies... first time watching movies overseas, we watch twilight.. quite a nice show and headed for tou jiang you tiao for supper before sending her back and myself going back to the hotel for my much needed sleep...

Wedding dinners

Just attended a distant relative's wedding dinner, some sort of cousin, though he is younger than me and is the son of my grandma's uncle. sounds far? far enough for me to never have seen him before and the first time i see him is to attend his wedding... what a weird fact..

but it brought out something nice too, ended up i manage to meet up with my cousins which i din have the chance to meet over these 2 years cos of work... its some sort of gathering too for my aunts and grandmother, esp when they chase all their kids away to sit at other tables while they sit among themselves.. haha... things lidat happen when you are old enough to take care of yourself...

there are quite a few weddings this month to attend, but i wun be able to attend cos of work. actually i feel quite bad, cos they are like my close friends and i haven been able to change away my duties... weddings are afterall once in a lifetime... i have Lifen's wedding on the 20th, this saturday... and Kristian's wedding on the 26th... which both i will be away... I will miss meeting up with my friends on these occasions, playing tricks on the couple, catching up...

KL Getaway

Immediately, after Fra-Jfk... i headed down to KL with huazai and joanna for a mini getaway for them.. i am more like a joiner cos they were planning for everything.. initially we were suppose to go to BKK, but all thanks to the turmoil, we had to change to KL instead since they had already taken their leave...

for me its economic crisis... so i was only spending on the essentials and food and only getting what i needed... but for them its one hell of a shopping.. but at least its objective met... and we set our new year resolution together.. so for this new year... we are going to work hard to fulfill our resolution... GAMBATTE!!!