Turkey

Turkey is the next country for me to blog..

I went Turkey last year on 25 Oct. It was a birthday present for my mum. It cost $2378 per pax due to NATAS discount.

Day 1

There was a lot of people at the airport. I didn't know that Istanbul was such a popular country

to visit. That day, I took Turkish airline for the first time. My lovely special luggage was damaged by the airline so in the end, they compensated me with a new one which i dun really fancy. Sad..

Day 2

Turkey was around 5 hours behind us so we reached there very early in the morning. It was raining and the weather was cold. We tried the Turkish coffee, bread and soup for breakfast. I didn't really like the vege soup. But that was the most common soup there and i was being served that soup in almost every meals. As i don't drink coffee, Mummy tried the Turkish coffee instead - a very small cup with almost half the cup filled with coffee residue.

We went Blue Mosque after breakfast. The hall was super crowded. I think almost all the tourists in Turkey were there. The queue to go in was super long. Coz it was freezing cold, the tourists beside me kept discussing about the cold and wet weather with me. Before stepping into the mosque, we had to take off our shoes and it was worth the wait, the mosque was pretty and grand.

After Blue Mosque, we visited Topkapi Palace. It was a palace for Ottoman Empire previously. The palace was huge with library, kitchen, museum etc.. Again, tourists were queuing almost everywhere.

At night, we travelled to Bursa by ferry. It was amazing. Our bus went directly into the ferry and parked inside. We alighted from the bus and went to have snacks at the ferry's cafe. Nothing much there. Only coffee, tea and light snacks.

Day 3

We visited Green Mosque this morning. I dun understand why Turkey got to name their mosque in colour. Anyway my tour guide told me it was due to the tiles used to decorate the mosque. This mosque was smaller compared to Blue Mosque. There was a small stall outside the mosque selling cheap accessories and I bought some pretty evil eye bracelets for my friends.

After that, we reached the Grand Mosque. This time round, the staff there wanted me to wear scarf to cover my hair. I heard that women are not allowed to be revealing. So troublesome. Luckily the weather was cold so i was all wrapped up except for my hair.

Next, we went to Koza Han aka Silk Market. Stuff were expensive so i didn't buy anything from there. Though i really got the urge to buy a fur shawl.

Coz Turkey was such a huge country, i was always on the bus. In every 2 hours, the bus will stopped at some places for us to have our toilet break. All the stops will have shops selling those souvenirs and also the famous Turkish coffee and tea (mum said apple tea was too sweet for her).

Actually one of the most enjoyable part of the trip was having meals there. I love their olive rice and kebab. Turkish love to eat olive rice with kebab and that was the food being served daily when i was in Turkey. I even bought the olive oil for mum coz olive is their main crop so i assumed that should be the best local product to buy. But Mummy was very upset over the meals coz she didn't like to eat same stuff everyday. She was so poor thing. We should have brought cup noodle from Singapore. Tried to buy from the supermarket there but i realised they didn't sell instant noodle at all.

After that, we went to a leather factory and watch a mini fashion show. But the price of clothings there started from thousand dollars onwards so i couldn't afford anything there.

Day 4

We were at Kusadasi. The sea view outside our hotel (Pine Bay Marina Hotel) was beautiful.
That day, we visited one of the most beautiful attraction in Turkey - Ephesus.

Before we went Ephesus, we visited the House of Virgin Mary. I heard that Virgin Mary escaped there when she was old and she stayed there till she passed away. There was a wishing wall outside her house where you could write wishes and hang there. There was also a few taps for you to get holy water. But i dun really understand why it was so called holy water. Maybe Catholic will know better. Next time i should ask Celine about this...

Ephesus was an olden city that buried under the ground for many many years. I think earthquake or something like that unearthed it. The place was beautiful. Very roman.. I heard this was due to the roman influence which invaded in the early years. Those years, the roman soldiers will stopped at the harbour nearby and walked to this area to stay. The area consisted of houses, parliament hall, town hall, law courts, temple, fountain, gym, theatre (can hold 25000 people and the acoustic was excellent), library, brothels (the guys would bluff their wives that they were at library but in fact they sneaked to the brothels opposite the library), toilet (in those days, people would help to sit on it to warm it up), market, sacrifice (dun really know why in olden days, people like to kill people for sacrificing purpose) etc..

Maybe it was due to Autumn season so the day ended very early in Turkey when we were there. For example, this day, we reached Ancient City of Hierapolis around 4 plus but it turned dark around 5pm so i couldn't take many nice photos. Cotton Castle was located here. It was a beautiful area made up of limestone and hot spring water. As it was too dark for my camera to take nice pictures, i was so tempted to buy the postcards there as souvenir.

Wanted to try Turkish bath that night at the hotel (Lycus River, Pamukkale) coz i heard that it will rub so hard that u feel your skin peeling off... But we couldn't come to a compromise on the pricing so in the end, we didn't try it. So sad..

Day 5

Early in the morning, we took photos in Pamukkale, somewhere near the bottom of the Cotton Castle. The scene was pretty.

Oh ya, when we passed by those houses in the villages, we were told that those houses with huge bucket / container on the roof showed that they have daughters (how many container = how many daughter) in the house. If you threw something to spoil their bucket, it meant that the person is interested to marry their daughter. I think this tradition is so interesting..

When we were travelling on the highway, the fruits looked interesting so we asked the bus driver to stop a while to let us purchase some fruits and almonds. But i dunno why the fruits in Turkey were very dry. Though they were sweet but i dun like the dryness.

Next, we visited Sultanhani Caravanserai aka hotel for ancient traders.. Nothing much there so you can skip it if it is not that convenient to reach.

Day 6

This day, we went to one of my favourite attractions in Turkey - Cappadocia..

First, we visited the Underground City of Kaymakli. There were bedroom, kitchen, church, stable etc inside the tunnel. I heard in olden days, the Christians fled here to avoid Islamic enemies. They cannot even cooked and only did it once daily around wee hours so that the smoke would not attract the enemies' attention. Dun understand why different religions will give people a reason to kill each other. So scary.. Anyway, the tunnel was small and we had to bend down constantly. We were panting all the way out so I wonder how the Christians can survived there for such a long period.

After the visit to Kaymakli, we reached Cappadocia. It was really very pretty. An area created by earthquake, wind, sun, rain and snow..

Before lunch, we went to the carpet factory. It sold all the expensive carpets there. Of course, once again, i did not have that kind of money to buy those carpets. But i like the part on carpet making demonstration. It really take years to make a carpet so i think it is worth the money if you can afford it.

In the afternoon, we had lunch at this super posh looking restaurant.

It was one of the nicest meals that i had in Turkey. The soup, spaghetti, grilled fish (got lots of bones though) were yummy! There was also musician playing an instrument that looked like shorter guzheng. Another guy even danced to the music. They also sold wine there which i think was quite nice but mum didn't want me to waste money on wine. Same as the other places in Cappadocia, the restaurant was built inside a hill.

Cappadocia aka Cannot See was where the Christians hide from the Muslims. From far, these places looked like normal mountains or hills, but when you look closely nearby, u will see holes and these were the places that they stayed. The museum area that we visited had 29 churches (pretty drawings on bible stories were on the walls and ceilings) and many houses with steep staircase all the way up to the top. The view was amazing. Too pretty for me to describe. The Turkish there were friendly too. An uncle kept insisting to take picture (coz he knew which spot was the nicest to take pic) for me and kept asking me about my trip in Turkey.

Oh ya.. When i went to buy water, a Turkish guy suddenly asked for my number and wanted to date me out. He kept insisting to give me a brooch and insisted that i must email him. Somemore, he requested to take photo with me. While taking photo, he suddenly kissed me! My mum almost fainted. Then some aunties dragged me away after seeing this. I think we Chinese really not used to seeing this. Heehee.. In the end, i got to ask my tour guide to help me buy water from his stall.

Oh yes, mum tried the Turkish ice cream there. The performance on the sticky, non-dropped ice cream was funny.

While walking to Uchisar Castle, we passed by some camels, horses and donkeys. Flies were all around them. I wonder how these animals 'tahan'. The top view there was nice too..

Day 7

Visited Salt Lake.. I thought it was just the sands on beach but it was actually all big grains of salt. My mum said we can use it to cook salted chicken. Heehee.. Some of the ladies went to use tissue wrapper to bring some salt back. This lake was huge and we couldn't see the other side of the lake at all.

Next, we visited the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara (capital of Turkey - where most of the government agencies located). It was the resting place of the father of modern Turkey. They had marching ceremony and playing of anthem daily, and the museum showcased those stuff that he used previously and also the gifts that other countries gave him.

Btw, i realised that Turkey love to grow roses everywhere, I even saw them at the roadside. A lot of school kids were having excursion there. Turkish teenagers and children love to take picture. Whenever they saw me with camera, they would stand in front of me and insisted that i take photos of them. Then a girl kept asking me for my name and age then suddenly gave me a kiss while walking! I think Turkish really like to kiss stranger.. Heehee.. Oh ya, the guys who worked there also kept talking to me and commented how pretty i am. Scary.. Luckily their English was too slang for my mum to understand.

After this, we went to the restaurant in the railway station. The setting was pretty and country-like. The food there was nice too.

We proceeded to Bolu after our lunch. Bolu is famous for hunters and chefs so i enjoyed the dinner buffet at Koru Hotel. Btw, i must mention about my tour guide. I think he has been overly friendly throughout the trip. Keep telling me i am very sexy. I can faint whenever i see him. I think Turkish like Chinese girls. Heehee..



Day 8

From Bolu, we went back to Istanbul. This day, we went to Mt Sophia Museum. On our way there, we saw pretty parks, beautiful street lamps and horse carriage. I really enjoyed the walk.

St Sophia Museum is a strange building. The external outlook is very church style but when we went in, it had a Islamic interior design. I heard this was due to Muslims taking over the church many years ago.

In the museum, we saw an enormous vase that was used to contain oil previously. People will get the oil to refill their lamp. There was also this wishing hole which many tourists queued up to try their luck. If you can put your hand inside and turn 360 degrees while you make the wish, your wish will come true. I tried and i know the trick to do it so it was quite easy for me but the rest of the people beside me didn't have that luck.

We also went to the 2nd level of this grand museum. One thing i dun really understand was the staircases were super long with flights and flights of staircases, but it was 2nd level only.

When I was at Istanbul, i realised their traffic jam was scary. I think can easily fight with Bangkok etc. We were stuck on the bus for hours. When I was on bus, i thought maybe i should take the tram beside the bus. It would be so much faster.

After hours of mild motion sickness, i finally reached Grand Bazaar and Spice Market. I like Grand Bazaar coz you can find all kinds of traditional souvenirs there. Evil eye accessories, keychains, coasters, bowls, cups, lamps etc.. I bought traditional turkish painting bowls and mugs, turkish earrings and keychain, pretty shawls etc.. I also bought traditional turkish delights (super sweet candy) and apple tea. We had to bargain real hard there. The auntie and uncle who travelled with us bought a nice leather jacket for their air stewardess daughter. So envy coz it was around 300 dollars. Oh ya, i changed money here and the rate wasn't that good.

Spice Market was just a short distance away from Grand Bazaar. U could find all kinds of spices and turkish delights there. Mum bought a lot of nuts stuff.

For lunch, we ate at the Chinese restaurant nearby. Coz we finally get to eat Chinese food so maybe that's why we kept thinking that was a very delicious meal.

That night, we went to watch Belly Dance performance. I think the dinner served was nice. But all the Chinese there was complaining. Different taste bud i think. A lot of tourists from various countries were there and the singer was terriffic. He could sing songs from all the countries so the tourists were amazed by him. The various belly dance and folk dance performances were nice but i think guys would enjoy even more coz the performers have very good figure and they wear until super revealing. You can even pay to take photo with these performers. After everything ended, audiences were invited to the dance floor to dance but only the caucasians went down.


Day 9

This was cruise day, cruising along the sea that cut Europe and Asia. The cruise trip was expensive but the view was nice. We saw the most expensive pub in Turkey, the famous soccer club boy school, the most expensive hotel in Turkey, the most expensive house in Turkey, the private island (actually a huge platform in the sea), the luxury ship that was donated to Father of Modern Turkey, the bridge that link Europe and Asia, the palace, castle etc..

We alighted at a harbour where we tried this famous baked potato (giantic and sweet) at 8 liras. You can choose all kinds of toppings that you like. Something like Subway Sandwiches so being kiasu Singaporeans, we just chose everything. Almost everyone here carried a baked potato while walking on the street. U just have to choose the stall or restuarant that you like.
The aunties there also kept asking us to buy their wrap so we bought 1 to share. We could choose the ingredients and just ask for all the ingredients to be put in coz the price would still be the same (5 liras). All the stalls were selling the same stuff so u could only choose the auntie that you like.

At that harbour, there were also 2 bazaars selling accessories, bags, caps, etc.. Very interesting. If you walk further up, you can go to their market and buy those cheap giantic vege.

On the street, i even saw band performers trying to perform and give away flyers to attract people to their stall.

After that, we went to the so called biggest shopping centre in Europe. It even had Zara Home there. So interesting. I went to my favourite shops - Mango, Topshop and Zara.. Bought leather jackets, dresses etc.. There was sales going on so everything was cheap and nice (especially winter clothings). But sizes were limited. Maybe all grabbed up by Tirkish alr. I even saw Charles & Keith there and the price was expensive!

Coz it was almost last few days of our trip, we were quite poor. I had to go to the money changer again. Luckily, most of the shops there accepted my US dollars. When i tried to use my Topshop card, i attracted all the Topshop sales assistants to come and look at my card. But they were just curious coz they still didnt allow me to use my membership card there.

Due to our lack of liras, we had to choose something cheap to eat. In the end, we ate the chinese buffet at the food court. Actually it was not really buffet coz u could only take a plate. But i made sure my plate was filled with food. So it was really fulled.. I think people beside me must be thinking i must be too poor so trying to make my whole day meals into 1 meal. Heehee..

Oh ya, while we were waiting for bus after our shopping trip, we saw trucks and trucks of army troops.. Wonder where they were going to coz they were causing some traffic jam at this late hour..


Day 10

Flight back to Singapore. I exchanged email addresses with some of the travel mates but i didn't save properly so lost everything. Hopefully they won't think that i deliberatly don't email them. I should have given them my email address too. Sian..

Krabi

As i mentioned previously, my travel blog is going to be a bit backdated coz i just decided to blog about all my trips recently.

Krabi was one of the most memorable trips that i went coz i almost met the tsunami disaster in 2004. The travel agency told me that if i want to stay till Christmas, i would have to pay extra money for the Christmas Eve dinner which was a compulsory dinner. Thus i decided to come back 1 day earlier, this decision saved us from the tsunami.

Maybe because i felt lucky to avoid the disaster, i donated quite a lot of stuff that time. But i felt sorry for those caucasians we met there. They were still there when the disaster happened coz they told us they were planning a 1 month holiday there. The tsunami was caused by a 8.9 earthquake on 26 Dec.

As that time, Singapore did not have any budget air yet so we took Silkair there. Oh ya, this trip was a birthday present that Ivan gave me. When we were on the plane, we were given Today to read. I flipped to the page on Soo Kee Jewelry, then i randomly told him that i like the necklace that Jeanette Aw was wearing. Surprisingly, he passed the necklace to me when we reached Singapore. He told me he ordered it from Krabi. Nowadays, he wasn't that sweet anymore. Guys changed after many years of being together.. Heehee..

We stayed in Krabi La Playa Resort at Ao Nang Beach. It was a new hotel when we were there. As it was opened by Singaporean, the management was very friendly to us. We even talked to their boss. It was a very pretty hotel with a super nice pool. The breakfast was served by the pool side too. The pool also had a pool bar which was similar to the one at the Hard Rock Bali. The room was huge and pretty too. It looked like an apartment rather than a hotel room. Especially from the view at the corridor.

There was nothing much at the town but you can still do some shopping and there was some restaurants with very nice atmosphere. Food there was quite nice.

Though it was a free and easy package, we were given a 1 day city tour. We went to the fish farm which was quite boring though i managed to see clown fish there. We also went to a temple, monk's cave and tiger cave which required us to climb super long flights and flights of staircases.

As there was a lot of travel agencies there, we went to do some research and realised that most of the prices were similar. In the end, we just randomly chose one full day island hopping tour. I tried snorkeling for the 1st time. Very interesting for me though i dunno how to swim. Dunno why Ivan dun like. He kept staying on the speedboat. Then he threw some bread which made thousands of fishes swam to my side. So scary. The fishes of different species kept nibbling my body.

Besides snorkeling at Monkey Island, we also went to Bamboo Island where the sand was

white and fine. The water in Krabi area was all so clear and sky was so blue and lovely.

Of course, the trip included a tour at Phi Phi Island - the place where The Beach was filmed. It was a super crowded island with a lot of stalls selling all kinds of stuff. Ang Mos were there selling diving course and makan stuff. Although it was crowded but lunch by the beach was still romantic. You can do all kinds of water activities here. Windsurfing, speedboat, banana boat etc. But you might want to skip this island if you prefer those islands where you were the only one there.

While traveling to some islands, we also passed by the Chicken

Island which really had the shape of

a chicken.

Out of all the islands, Ma Ya Bay was one of the pretty islands where i think really look like those movie scenes. Large seashells can be found here too. I saw 1 caucasian dived to catch a big starfish. But i think it was illegal to do it.

The next day, we went for white water rafting trip. It was quite far away and when we reached there, we saw tourists coming from Phuket too. On our way there to do the white water rafting, they brought us to a waterfall for us to swim but it was too slippery for me even to take photos. I tripped and even cut myself. They also brought us to see how they retrieved rubber from tree and made the liquid form to solid form.

When we did the white water rafting, i felt it was a bit unnatural. They actually released the water from a dam. Quite scary coz the current was fast but luckily the thai guy who controlled it was very experienced so we didn't have to row much.

After that, we went to watch the elephant show and took an elephant ride round

the jungle trek. But i told myself that i would not take elephant ride again. They kept poking the elephant when it didn't walk the correct direction. The elephant looked so unhappy. It even stopped a few times and refused to move. I cannot allow myself to be involved in helping people to ill-treat elephant in future. If i dun take the ride, then the elephant won't be forced to do things they dun like.

Oh ya, I tried the ATV ride that day too. I think my sense of direction really got something wrong. I kept banging into the trees. The thai guy got to keep coming to save me. Pai sei. Heehee..

Though Krabi was a crowded place to visit but some of the islands were really pretty. I always wanted to go back again but my friends told me it wasn't as pretty as it was before tsunami. Thus in order not to spoil its beautiful image in my memory, i decided to give it a miss.

TPSA DnD

Attended this dinner and dance on the 1st week of Jan 2009.. It was held at Changi Hotel.. The reason that i posted this blog is coz i got selected to be one of the best dressed candidates.. The theme was back to school..

Anyway i didn’t win but i managed to get a consolation prize.. Actually on stage was really too frightening for me.. Got to dance and do stupid moves.. I am too old for this lah.. Then the winner got 2 tables of supporters leh.. Me only have 1 table.. Of course, her claps will be louder than me.. heehee..

But though i didn’t win, i got the most "air time" on stage.. The emcee acted a long story to intro me.. Acting as an ah beng coz he said last time ah beng all like this kind of image (me) in school.. heehee.. Then he acted another part that he said last night his mum called him to tell him that she dreamt about his future wife and the image fitted me.. heehee.. So funny.. After that night, Kyle is thinking of getting him as emcee for TPSU DnD too..

SAA's Dress-up Day 2008

One random day in Jan 2008, Sam, Hwee Hoon and myself decided to organise monthly dress-up day for SAA. So i went to seek permission from Raymond and Eng Khim. Though Sheena was the wellness rep, i did most of the job for this coz i initiated the idea. Emails were sent to SAA staff every month about the theme and after the monthly voting, the winner got a voucher.

Jan 2008 - Ethnic Day and I am the Ethnic Queen with the indian saree that i got for Sonny's play..

Feb 2008 - Bohemian Day and Cat won the title with the design handled by her hubby.



Mar 2008 - Mismatch Day and I am the mismatch queen though i think Terence looked funny too.. Heehee..

Apr 2008 - English Country Day and Hon Choo was the English Lady who won.



May 2008 - Hawaiian / Beach Day and i am the hawaiian girl who won..



Jun 2008 - Executive Business Day and Paul Ang was the businessman..



Jul 2008 - Retro Day and Sonny was the winner..



Aug 2008 - Role Play Day and Cynthia won by wearing her ah ma clothes from Moon People..

Sept 2008 - Hip Hop Day and there were too many winners to be listed..



Oct 2008 - Cowboy Day and I wasn't in Singapore so no photo.. But Paul Ang was the cowboy..



Nov 2008 - this was postponed to Jan 2009 coz they wanted a Kampong theme at the new year gathering and Kennieth was the kampong boy..



Dec 2008 - Glamourous Christmas and Paul Ang was the winner..

Conclusion - I decided not to organise this in 2009.. Too tedious for me but i am glad that my friends in SAA enjoyed this..

Design For Living. 华丽上班族《生活与生存》

Went for this play during CNY. This was part of the Chinese Festival of Esplanade. Went to watch this play coz the lead actress is Zhang AiJia (张艾嘉) and lead actor is Zheng YuanChang (郑元畅). But when i finished watching the play, i realised the lead actor was Wang YaoQing (王耀庆). Maybe Zheng is more famous than Wang, that's why the advertisement emphasized more on Zheng.

The play was about 张威 (acted by Zhang) was a CEO of a company and she was also ex-wife of the boss (mentor of Zhang). She was having affair with her protégé, David (acted by Wang) - a guy who wanted to prove his love and capability by embezzling company's money to play shares. The whole story began with 李想 (acted by Zheng) telling the audience that he didn’t know why he was died when he just started this dream job (his dream was to work in a glamorous environment) not long ago. The story ended with telling us 李想 was accidentally dragged down by David when he jumped down the office building after the company discovered about his embezzlement. 李想 didn’t even blame David after he was died coz he knew that it was all an accident. But i was pretty sad with this kind of ending. The poor innocent guy was sacrificed by the act of David and Zhang.

Despites of the sad ending, i actually quite like this play coz of all the interesting supporting actresses and actors - the sexpot "Jialing", the married plus want affair but dun dare to do so "Shen Kai", the forever different secretary roles "Dong Mei", the capable in work but lost in love "Sophie", the newbie cum granddaughter of big boss "Qiqi", the himbo "Sun Qiang", the 2 assistants "ban ban" and "hao hao"... Though some parts of the voice-over were really unnecessary..

I attended the 1st night of the show and maybe it was the 1st night, it was really an “eventful” night. There was an announcement to say that there will be a 15mins interval break due to technical error. At 1st, i thought this was a joke but when we waited for more than 15mins, i went to check with the usher and realised there was really technical error. The programme book indicated that the intermission should be after scene 8 but that was only scene 4. After they fixed the error for quite some time, they repeated scene 4 (think this was unnecessary coz the error was at the end of scene 4) and the error appeared again at the ending. This time round, they fixed it faster without another break.

Zhang & Wang were clearly affected by the incident coz they didn’t do as good as the previous scene 4 when they repeated it.

After that, there were another intermission, maybe they really need time to swop the props etc after certain scene. This time round, esplanade apologised for the error and offered free drinks at the bar counter. But this might be too last min so the drinks at the bar counter were not enough and by the time you finished queuing, the interval was over. But luckily, i still managed to grab a champagne which was the most expensive drink from the bar counter.

After the curtain call, the director invited the esplanade staff to come out so that they can express thanks to esplanade for helping them. But the staff was so tense and upset that she didn’t realised that they were only asking her out to say thanks. She immediately read from her script that they were really apologetic for what has happened. When the audience saw her trembling look, they all started to laugh. I think she was really affected by what has happened. She looked so poor thing and she apologised again for cancelling the only post show talk as the time was really late and the casts needed to rest early for the next day matinee show. Audience was really upset even after she offered us another round of free drinks at the bar counter. Although the time was already midnight, we still hope to talk and mingle with the cast. But anyway no choice..
I can empathize with her coz I do stage management as well. I told Cat that if she was the SM, I think she would cry too. So I didn’t want to make things too difficult for that lady. If usual situation like this, I will sure write a complaint letter to Esplanade and demand for refund.

Anyway, luckily again, i managed to grab an Evian at the bar counter after show.

Oh ya, must say thanks to my bf for waited from 10pm onwards coz Esplanade got no phone reception so he cannot call me and couldn’t know what time my show ended.. So poor thing.. Waited for 2 hours coz he wanted to send me home..

Yoga's Trick Concert

Got free tickets from HIM international Music to watch this concert last night.

Dunno why Yoga looked so tense in the concert. He only started to warm up at the encore part when majority of the people already left. And his encore part actually has 2 portions. Most of the audience left after the 1st one, not anticipating that he will come out again.

Oh ya.. I think the guest stars did super well. Olivia Ong was really pretty and her voice was good. The best was when SHE appeared. They warmed up the crowd. I think their concert will be very worth it to watch.

Anyway overall, the concert was still quite interesting. Yoga's voice was good. Btw, he burped while about to sing and everyone laughed.. So cute.. But i still prefer the performance that he did at TP.

P.S. I realised SBS provided transports from stadium to Tampines, Bedok, Yio Chu Kang and Boon Lay.. Why they dun provide bus to Sengkang? A lot of people stay in Sengkang and Punggol.. SBS can consider this area? Hon Choo was so lucky to have bus back to Boon Lay..

Singtel

Super angry with Singtel recently. I bought a new phone with Singtel contract for my mum. As it was bought online, i only received it a week after my purchase. When i received it, i realised the phone doesn't support Chinese Language. As this was really important for my mum, i called back immediately to ask for an exchange. But the lady told me that she can only get back to me a few hours later after she contact Singtel shop. I waited until the following day before calling the "super hot" hotline again. But the operator told me that she needed to check and get back to me on this. But no news was heard after that. I called back for another 2 times (through the "super hot" hotline again), the operators were still unable to locate the 1st lady who helped me with the query. I just don't understand why only the 1st lady can help me with this query. Can't they help me check on it too? The last operator was even worst, she was so rude to me and told me that my request was impossible.

Anyway, after these calls, i emailed to Singtel and asked them for an explanation. But still there was no reply from their side. I really wonder why Singtel customers service becomes so lousy.

A few days later, my dad called me to tell me that this new Singtel line doesn't has caller ID service. I was really puzzled by it coz i remembered that the new contract offered a 3-mth free caller ID and auto roaming. When i called to ask, the guy told me there was a system error and will activate my caller ID from the date of my purchase. I really wonder why this is the case. I don't have the service for 2 weeks and they were still going to include the 2 weeks. So unreasonable.

A week later, my dad called me from Malaysia and told me that his new line didn't have auto-roaming service. I was so angry that i called up Singtel again to ask for the reason. They told me that there might be system error again and they will activate my service 1 day later. I really wonder why they need to take more than a day to activate my auto-roaming service and why they always have system error??? Anyway i asked for the explanation but the operator told me that he wasn't sure of the reason. Thus i asked him to get the manager to call me back. Up till this date (almost 3 weeks), i still haven't got a call from the manager.

I decided to give up hoping that Singtel will do something about my case. I am really disappointed with Singtel coz i always thought their customer service is the best among the mobile service operators. Looks like i am wrong in this thinking. :(

Olympics

Today i saw a news article that said we won 2 bronze and 1 silver at Paralympics to date. But how come the publicity is not as much as Olympics? So strange.. During Olympics, news were featured everyday.. People all watching our table tennis team finals.. I even skipped work to watch.. But nobody seems to care about Paralympics. So sad for these contestants..

Anyway, after Olympics, i also haven’t heard about my favourite sportsman - Michael Phelps.. I kind of missed the days when i watched his matches and news daily.. Heehee.. Super impressive swimmer and cute somemore.. :p

Actually Olympics was not about Phelps only.. I felt that gymnastics were very interesting too.. I like the Russian (now American) girl.. So pretty.. The synchronize diving was super nice too.. Though i don’t really like Guo Jing Jing but i realised she is quite popular..

That time, i also accidentally watched the badminton finals.. I like the Malaysian player when he played with our player.. But when i watched him playing in the finals, i felt that the Chinese player was so much better then him.. This Lin Dan guy was super amazing.. Though Hwee Hoon said he looked very stuck up but i think he was really very handsome.. I heard that even Faye Wong likes him.. So cool huh.. I read his report that said he chased his girlfriend (also badminton player) since 15 years old.. So sweet.. Love at 1st sight even though the girl is older..

I am so into this year Olympics, i think is coz the organiser is China.. This is the 1st time i watch Olympics and i think i will continue to support it in future.. :)

Apple iphone

Last month, i am so hooked in selling stuff.. I sold my nokia 7390, olympus FE190, sony W910i.. Though i didnt earn much, at least i won't feel so guilty to buy a new canon camera and an iphone..

Talking about iphone, it was so irritating.. I have to queue 4 hours to buy it even though i have booked an appointment to collect it.. No choice, who asked me to be so kia su to collect on the 1st day.. But luckily Singtel was quite custumer orientated.. They provided us with curry puff, tibits, mineral water, muffins etc.. I even got chocolate while waiting for my phone to load my SIM card.. Before i left, they even offered me a Singtel-iphone umbrella.. At least, customers won't complain, knowing that Singtel really made an effort to make our wait less tiring..

But Shuyun was the most poor thing.. Deliberately meet me for dinner but end up, couldn't even see me face to face coz the queue was all blocked up.. In the end, she got to go back first..

After getting the iphone, i realised it is as "un-user friendly" as what all the reviews said.. I just don't understand why they have to force us to buy ringing tone from itune store? And the stupid phone cannot read my SIM card.. I have to key in all my contacts manually.. Somemore, i am a great fan of Cruz's morning programme.. How can iphone doesn't have the radio feature? When i went Taipei for the Nike Human Race, i even realised that my phone doesn't have the video feature too... So sad.. I didn't even manage to record the super nice concert held after the race.. Then also, Kyle told me that it didnt has the forward sms feature too.. Luckily this is not a feature that is too important to me.. Anyway, hopefully i can find another better phone so that i can sell away my iphone..

Any recommendation?

Exhibitions

Recently, there are really a lot of exhibitions..

I went to Singapore Garden Festival in Suntec with my SAA colleagues just now. The award winning landscapes were pretty impressive but i don't think i will go again next year. Anyway, i think this festival attracted a lot of people. Lawrenz told me that he would be going on Friday and I saw Sonny there too.

Oh ya.. During April, I told Hon Choo that I wanted to go Feng Zheng Jie Exhibition.. And she told me that Singapore Art Museum has free entry on Friday nights.. So happy to know this news! His paintings were very nice.. I heard they were super expensive.. Since i can't own them, seeing was ok too.. hee.. Actually pretty impressed by him.. He can whipped up such pretty paintings by just using the primary colours.. But like most people, i think the eyes of his paintings looked weird.. Though others might think it is artistic..

Then in May, it was International Museum Day so everyone in Singapore had free entry to all the museums.. Anyway, there was only 1 day so i couldn't be too greedy.. In the end, I went to see Xu Bei Hong Exhibition with Hon Choo.. This was another exhibition i wanted to see.. His Chinese paintings in Nanyang were very nice olden paintings.. I like a portrait of a young lady wearing Qi Pao.. Very detailed lines.. He drew portraits for those rich people in Nanyang to earn his study allowances in Europe.. But i think he might be more well-known for his horse paintings.. Coz dunno why, his horse paintings were featured everywhere..

Next, NATAS Fair will be held this weekend.. Not very sure whether i should go coz i need to buy birthday present for my mum anyway.. But I think it will be super crowded.. Think maybe i should just buy the present straight from the travel agency.. Hopefully my mum won't choose somewhere too expensive..

Lastly, when i went to Racheal's birthday celebration, Xiao Juan told me that there will be Comex Exhibition on 28 Aug in Suntec.. But i will be in Taipei by then.. So sad.. Wanted to buy camera.. Luckily can still ask Xiao Juan to buy for me.. At least will still have staff discount from Canon.. Hee..