dinner for 2

not that i want to boast ok, but gw said this sweet & spicy fish got the tze char standard...

*hiak hiak...super proud*

arranged until so nice of course must take a picture right...

first time making charsiew

inspired to make charsiew after watching stephen chow's movie "食神"

Austria

Great news!! I finally break free from that killer taiwanese drama series and leading a normal life now. So I shall continue to blog on the next destination of our Europe trip holiday.

We spent half of the day doing white water rafting in the mountains of Austria, Tyrol. So we didn't have much time left to explore the rest of the city. Talking about white water rafting, it was totally awesome! And if we could turn back time, we would have gotten ourselves a waterproof camera for the trip. Because it costs 8euros to buy a photo from the photo booth!

we took the smaller boat for 8 pax, the bigger ones can take up to 12 pax

We posed for this one at the begining of the rafting. As u can see, I'm the only female in this boat so i was excused from carrying the raft and other heavy duty stuff. HAHAHAHA!!! The ah pek in blue helmet is the trainer, and he wanted us to all get into the water. All the guys do somersaults and jumped into the water but I cannot pull that stunt lah I will break my back. I slowly lower my legs down first to test water temperature and slowly jumped in. Wah lau! SUPER FREEZING COLD. It's like you will get stunned for a few seconds before you remember to move your limps to swim.

This photo was taken unknowingly at one of the rapids. Don't know what kind of camera they are using because it's so super clear that it can capture every drop of water splashed against your face. And also the trainer taught us to do some balancing tricks, like everyone standing on the edges of the raft using only our paddles to keep our balance. This is like super difficult and everyone will fall front and back. But I like the second one, whereby all of us gather at the front tip of the raft. Then we hold on to the green rope (see picture) and bend backwards as much as possible. This caused the other end of the raft to lift up like wind surfing. So cool but GW said he could make the raft capsize because he didn't used his entire body weight to bend backwards.

Frozen after rafting, and we all took a shot to warm ourselves

命中注定我爱你

today, i stumbled across the taiwanese drama 命中注定我爱你 over the internet. Watched the first episode and got addicted. The male lead in this show resembles alot like mingdao. I keep suspecting it's him, but cannot confirm because his eyes and the way he talked is abit different...

comment(14 Aug 2008): i'm now at episode 13 and crying like mad...

comment(15 Aug 2008): i'm stuck with this show, stuck with my laptop for past 2 days, following episode after episode. Lazy to eat / sleep / go out / cook... Wonder if this is an illness.

I woke up today with a pleasant surprise

I was walking to the toilet as usual to pee, and I spotted a nice package lying at my doorstep. Maybe I'm seeing things lah because just woke up what, so I rubbed my eyes again but it's still there! Curiousity kills the urge to pee, I picked up the package and found a very big singapore stamp at the top right hand corner.


It's a parcel from my cousin, Hazel aka mimiyan (though we seldom call you MMY now, because your eyes had become bigger)... Thank you!!! (x a few more million times) Appreciate your gift, i love everything inside the package... it's sooo sweet. The recipe book is so cute with all the cartoon illustrations. To be honest, I'm now reading the diary of Anne Frank very slowly, because was afraid I might finish the book too quickly and got nothing else to read. So your Mitch Albom book came just in time. (i sounded so pathetic!)



I miss everyone of you (too many to list) in singapore. Really.

amsterdam

sneaking a picture in the souvenir shop, forced GW to take for me

Amsterdam is always raining, so you may want to open a umbrella retail shop at the tourist shopping areas. Sure earn money one. We were stuck in a shop because of rain, and bought a small umbrella for 15euros (we chose the cheapest ok)

Amsterdam is a environment friendly country, there is a multistorey bicycle parking lots which I didn't managed to snap it cuz I was too slow in the coach

more bicycle lots... the bikers there are very hardcore one they will run over you if u are walking on the bicycle path...

Sweet in Pink!

The houses there all look like this

cute!

the retarded boy

We went to check out their red light district... very happening.
You can see alot of tourist doing window shopping. Yes... Girls dressed in bra and panties, dancing behind the glass window... Being a prostitute in amsterdam is like being a civil servant, they enjoy privileges like medical benefits, tax free and pensions etc. No photography is allowed in the red light district, because they want to the protect the identity of the girls working there. And also their brownies contains marijuana (duno how to spell, it's some drug) and is totally legal to sell them in coffeshops.
We didn't try the brownie or go to the sex show with the rest of the tourmates, we just explored the area and we found... CHINESE RESTAURANT!!! Although we already had dinner, but we totally can't resist the temptation.

char kway teow!!! i want to go back singapore!

dumpling soup!!! i want to go back singapore!

char siew rice!!! I want to go back singapore!

rooster teaset!!! reminds me of my bimbo sister who is so into this rooster series... She will buy food from whatever stall serving with the rooster bowl because she thinks it taste better.

we went for the canal cruise, around 28 euros per person inclusive of free flow beer & red wine

Giving out vodka shots to everyone, and we all took the first shot together

close up

The canal cruise is a nice way to explore amsterdam because the place is connected by canals, and the people there are very friendly and they love to wave at the tourists in the boat.. HAHA, one even undid his pants and show us his butt.

View from the canal boat of 7 bridges all aligned

Early next morning we went to visit Anne Frank's house. The place opens at 9am, and this is the queue at 8.30am... For those who read the book "Diaries of Anne Frank", this is the place where the family hid for 2 years during the WW2. (Diaries of Anne Frank was No. 1 best seller before Harry Potter overtake her). I learnt about this little girl from a movie I watched few months back called "The freedom writers" and really wanna check out her house in Amsterdam. It's pretty cool, there is a secret passage way behind a bookshelf which leds to the attic.

No photography allowed inside.

Took this picture while in the queue... love the sky

Statue of Anne Frank outside her house. I bought a copy of her book at the Anne frank bookstore, can't wait to read it!

Update on paris: my first ever Louis Vuitton

paris

it was 30 degrees in paris that day. Freaking hot and i got sunburnt on both my shoulders.

When we talk paris, it will always be the eiffel tower.... Any ideas what does these yellow stars represent???

Typical tourist picture part I

Typical tourist picture part II

Typical tourist picture part III

the ticketing queue to get to the top... Long queue but moving very fast, not so bad

Check out the queue while climbing the stairs

This is only the first storey of the eiffel tower, and I'm already half dead. U need to climb (i think 698 steps) to the 2nd storey to take a elevator to the top. Seriously, I won't go up the eiffel tower again. Once is enough.

Our saviour - the elevator. I was doing the superman pose with my right arm stretched up. And GW said i looked more like air pork instead. TMD.

Random

View from top of tower

View from top of tower

View from top of tower

View from top of tower

I thought this is kinda cool

This is an expensive restaurant, and normally big shots celebrities will dine there (overheard michael jackson is one of them). The windows are bullet proof.

Arc of Triomphe Etoile, known as the crazy roundabout. Our tour manager said accident rate is 1 every 30 minutes

Sainte Chapelle, near to Notre Dame

Yeah, we went to check out Notre Dame...

A headless guy at the entrance

Inside Notre Dame, there is a service going on

love the stained glass

It was the le tour de france on that day. SO SUAY! The street is packed with people, people and more people. And road blocks here and there, which makes it difficult to walk to the places we want to visit.

People waiting for the bikers

The Lourve!!! It's made up of 666 pieces of glasses

The place when the king and queen lives back in Louie the 13th or 14th era... can't really remember. The peasants came to protest, and the king & queen fled away without informing anyone. And thousands of loyal Swiss army were killed while trying to protect the king & queen who were not inside. Sad.

The 4 horses from Venice

Gypsy selling souvenirs, u can bargain anything to half of its quoted price.

Souvenir stores by the streets. But is cheaper to buy from gypsies.

Very big (3 storeys) Louis Vuitton outlet! GW bought me a clutch, my first LV in my whole life!

So hot and still wear until like that.

Saw this when making our way to Moulin Rouge... Beautiful

Very ugly hairstyle

The ah ma who fed the pigeons

Moulin Rouge! There is a roundabout where wind blows upwards from the ground, and you see girls holding down their skirts. Cool!