En-V......the envy of others

Baking Cookies!!

2009-02-09T21:30:00.009+08:00

See my Hubby tried to bake butter cookies....

Yummy Yummy, Look good and smell good. No wonder someone is very busy!

Mr Inspector, Pipi.. He is looking very hard .. think very hard where did the smell come from is it here???

Or here

Oh no, he found the where did the place come from and try to ambush on top of the kitchen cupboards to bite a few pcs!!

Haha... The Inspector, Pipi is caught in the act!! Here is a mugshot of him..Look How far he is, why because he ate too many cookies!! And he look so grouchy.

Finally Our new Home in Egypt

2009-02-09T20:34:00.015+08:00

Ok Here is the new house, Let me introduce!!!

Yes this is the main door

Once u enter the door, turn left there is the Dinning hall.

Once u enter the door, U are in our comfy Living hall

This is my Heaven, the kitchen!! Yeah it is a bit small, but I like it very much.

This is the hallway, on the right is the common bathroom., Right at the end is Guest Room 2, and on the left is Guest Room 1 and On the right is the Master Room.

Common bathroom

Guest room 1 still have not place in the sofa bed I requested and the aircon as well. So for the moment, it is Pipi's room.

The master Bathroom

My dressing table

Our wardrobe

Guest room 2

Exploring Egypt 1

2009-01-09T21:02:00.003+08:00

2nd Jan 2009, we decide to explore our neighbourhood. And to our surprise, we found a very nice viewing spot to view the whole of Cairo. Nice!!

My panorama shot

The Whole of the Cairo, almost I think!!

The sunset view, well the sky could have been a bit more clearer.

Behind where my baby stand, is a dumpster, where everyone in that town throw their rubbish, Stinks like hell!!

Dandy Mall - Mori Sushi

2009-01-04T22:08:00.016+08:00

My Dear, decided to bring to a new shopping area. But First, we must drive to somewhere the Pryamids. Look at the view..

Yes the poor people here live in Slumps

Finally, we arrived to the Dandy Mall. A Shot taken from inside of the mall. Just drive straight from Dandy u will reach Alex in 2hrs.

Our Dinner, Japanese, one of my fav. food..

He is having a tough time to think what to eat. Leave it to me!! My dear

Well my darling Pick this, not very fantastic, more like a soy sauce soup.

Such a small sushi bar, but see how many ppl working there. Crazy, talk about inefficiency..

Finally my sushi and sashimi combo arrived. Very bad display, U will never find this in type of display in a real Japanese resturant.

The expensive beef, Wagyu Beef.. Very tender Yummy

My pocket had a big hole now!!

Verdict: the best sashimi is still from Fusion.

Kiss by the Bee

2009-01-04T20:57:00.006+08:00

This dun happen to anyone or everyday... to be kiss by a bee.. When my hubby is very very ''lucky'' to have this happen to him.

I'm so worried sick, I freaked out... I dun know how to handle this because I never encounter this before.. and Same for my hubby.

So my hubby want me to call my mummy at a very unearthly timing to ask her for help.. But she didn't help out much as we dun have those things we had in Singapore.

But luckily, it is nothing serious... I calm down and call the doctor for help and he advice me to buy certain cream to apply. And maybe the cream did help.. after a few hours Hubby feel better.

Huge feet on the left

Look at how long long the bee stung, the light white line under the nail..

Here is the culprit

Look how big it is!!

Lunch at TGI Friday!!!!

2009-01-04T20:15:00.015+08:00

Here is the logo!!!! I had been thinking about trying the food since got here in Cairo.. so here it is!! T.G.I Friday in city stars. Hopefully it is deicious:

The deco

The deco for the other side of the wall

Vincent is showing off his new phone: E71.. It is his new baby now!!!!

The competition for the Eye bag champion!!

Trying to act cute...

Hubby trying to teach me how to cover eye bag, yucks...

My better way to hide eye bag

Or stare

or my classic smile

Hubby trying to imitate me or he is just wanting to dig his nose very badly

Here come our food: seafood platter normal, nothing great

Hubby's steak: too tough we ask for medium rare but it seems like well done. Not worth going

My hubby fav Taiwanese food

2009-01-04T16:22:00.004+08:00

My hubby fall in love with these Taiwanese foods, when My BFF Elaine brought these for us to eat on my another BFF Ah Boon's b-day!!

The Pork floss in egg pancake, though I had tasted better in Taiwan..

Here come my hubby's fav!!! The Oyster mee sau!!

Even though this is very very normal street food in Taiwan but he love it very much so maybe next time I can bring him to eat the actual taiwanese food in Taiwan.

A trip to Batam with my family

2009-01-04T15:24:00.025+08:00

After our 10 km run in the morning, we go backed and get ready to leave to the ferry terminal. Yippee!!!

At the habour front, mei mei and I went to get tickets...
Some farewell Singapore photos,

Someone is missing here!! Guess Wilson and Vincent... One is at home the other is in the Toilet of course!!!! :P

There he is relaxing at the Batam Terminal, Waiting for out taxi. He is in his new expensive specs.. Japanese designer specs!!!

Having out lunch at the Nagoya mall. Not very tasty for my mei mei dish.. The best is still my Hubby noddles

Daddy and mei mei

Father in law and son in law bonding session

Hubby and me!!!

I'm a raindeer

I'm a xmas bear, and I'm in the mood for xmas!!!

Time for some serious and super fresh seafood dinner... Yummy!!!!!!!!!!! It is really very fresh... see for yourself..

Fresh Gong Gong

Look at the selection for fresh shellfishes

There is more, Big Fresh Crab

Oh my my, my fav fresh oysters.

More crabs

How can fresh seafood be complete with Lobster and......

A whole of fishes!!!!

Our meal, a complete seafood dinner... Crab, shellfishes, lobster and fishes... I can't wait... all of us can't wait..

1st Fresh shellfish dishes

2nd Fresh Fish

Yummy Lobster

I miss my photo taking on the crab, because all these seafood is too good and I can't stop eating... and by the way a meal for 5 and 5 fresh seafood with rice drinks and beers, it cost around S$80. It is cheap!!

Driving in Cairo

2008-12-24T22:30:00.002+08:00

It is a nerve wrecking experience…every time I hit the street.

I never had any pleasurable drive since I got my truck. The more relax drive would be during the morning and early afternoon of every Friday, when the devoted locals stayed home and visit nearby mosque for Friday prayer.

Here are some of the things that made driving in Cairo one of the most adventurous activities:

Car horns coming from every direction. I still can’t get use to the swarming of noise; it’s rude to horn in Singapore unnecessary, whereby most of the time people will give you the offended stares if you do so, even if you have the right reasons. But not so in Cairo, every driver does it…excessively. I often got confused as to whether the horns are directly towards me.

You will never know whether a lane is one way or for 2 ways traffic flow. I got stuck a few times on road that is small enough to only allow one car to pass thru; the basic rule of keep right driving does not apply here sometimes.

You will master the art of tight tolerance navigation if you spend enough time on those narrow lanes. Very often I felt the on coming vehicle is going to rub shoulder with my truck. This happened in wider road as well, as there’s no proper car park here, the drivers will park their vehicle along the road shoulder, both side! This made a wide lane into a narrow passing.

Pedestrian hazards. No proper walkway for them and most of them just walk besides the road, next to the parked car aligning along the road, sharing the already very narrow lane. The most awakening scare they can give a driver is to run across the highway… because there’s no pedestrian crossing or they are lazy to use it. Imagine you are driving around 90km/h and suddenly a mum holding a child with one hand and cuddling one more baby with another arm, suddenly running across in front of your car, 20 meters away.

Parking. Designated parking lot is almost non existence, except in big shopping malls or complex. It’s not easy to find a place to park your car, I think the car population is way too saturated and parking space is getting scarce. It’s a stunt trying to parallel park your car with other cars flanking on both sides. You also have to worry whether you get your car out when you leave the place, sometimes cars that come later and park in front and behind your car, leave you no space to get out. Furthermore, they don’t practice reverse parking as religiously as Singaporean.

Lane marking. Almost none! Even if there is, they will ignore it. Very often they will drive on the lane marking, or turning 2 lanes in to 4 lanes. Once I saw a very narrow lane marking near Nasr City, I really can’t figure out what make the people who draw it thinks that the car can actually stay within the lane. It is so narrow that I told my wife that it should be intended for donkeys only.

No traffic lights! Sometime you can find traffic police at a cross road or junction, but I don’t think they help a lots, their instruction is very confusing.

Roads at night are poorly lighted, and most of the local driver doesn’t like to turn on the head lights, it’s believed by them that the light can blind them.

The surface of the moon is probably much smoother than the road surface here. Sometime I send my car flying and my wife screaming when I couldn’t react in time to avoid a road hump or pot holes.

I guess driving in the tunnel got to be the most frightening experience of all. The tunnel itself is already narrow, and cars don’t drive within the lane, speed limit is ignored and there’s no road shoulder inside there!

Traffic jam is very common. Like the congestion that you going thru when you drive from Singapore to Malaysia custom during peak hours.

Pray hard that on the day you decide to drive, it doesn’t rain. Yes, raining is rare in Cairo, but if it rains, the traffic system will paralyzed. The main reason is poor sewage system and heavy flood after rains.

The list goes on and on……but the scenes of cars driving in reverse gear on a highway will stay with me forever. Sometimes, when the driver took a wrong highway exit, they will “reverse” all the way back to the main road.

However I have to admit that despite those road hazards, Egyptians surely are more willing to give way and help. I have encountered a few times whereby strangers giving me instruction to navigate a tight passing or getting out of the parking space.

We have moved

2008-12-23T21:11:00.003+08:00

We returned from our short get-away to Singapore on 14 December, and moved in to our newly rented apartment on 17 December.

We loved the new place very much.

On 19 December morning, our new masterbed room was flooded!!!!! A poorly fitted pipe to the water heater has gone loose. The flooded scene of our room was amazing! I never thought it would happened here on a 6th floor apartment with dry Cairo weather with almost no rain. PiPi could have swim in the few centimetres high man made pool if he is not afraid of water.

The new area is full of feline friends. Often, a few cats will sit outside our apartment door and some will start opening up the free gift I put outside - gabbage bags.

What bothering me the most is those female stray cats made PiPi very horny! When PiPi smell the ladies outside, he gets excited, and starts to made funny loud noise and pee on the floor near the door! He is trying to tell the one waiting outside: "Come and get me now!!"

I'm considering to turn PiPi into an eunuch soon. *evil grins*

Well, another bizzare event happened to me during our first week stay in the new place...I think I will leave the details to my wife.

-VINcE

So sad!!

2008-12-06T17:56:00.005+08:00

I found a very small kitten, under my block. Intend to bring it back after my trip to the supermarket. He was so small and weak, one of his eyes is blind or still not fully open. And there was shit at his anal and legs.

So poor thing.

See this is the poor kitten.

After 30 mins, I came back from supermarket, the kitten is no longer there. I'm so worry I can't find it. Hopefully, it will find a good family to take care of him.

I'm too worry so I deiced to find it. When I went down, I saw a bunch of kids, digging a small grave to bury something. Then I go forward, and found out that it is that small kitten. This is the small kitten tomb.

PiPi loves Birkenstock

2008-11-23T04:03:00.002+08:00

His licking and kissing my Birkenstock sandals again. Of all the available shoes lining underneath the bar counters, he picks Birkenstock all the time...good taste huh? I mean he got good taste.

Eve is in Singapore now, and I bet she just ate the yummy fried chicken skins for dinner at JB! *sobs sobs..never wait for me*

I will be leaving in few days time also, when we come back again in mid Dec, we will move to a new place.

Hopefully this new place can bring some much needed comfort for us. Our currently apartment is having "water supply downtime" again. Luckily it happens when Eve is not around most of the time..hmmm...or else, she cannot tahan lah.

By the way, I should bath today.....

-VinCe

My 27th Birthday.... and our 1 year Anni

2008-11-04T16:33:00.005+08:00

HEHE!!!!! My birthday flowers.... Even though it is not decorated as nicely, but that is the best you can get in EGYPT. I love it ... Why...

Because of this card... and the sender.. My hubby..... Muacks

We had a simple dinner at the Peking restaurant. To me the highlight is the flowers, most gals love flowers.. So do I hehe...

So hubby how will you rate your darling wife....

2 thumbs up!!

Down come the Rain, Up come the Flood

2008-11-04T16:06:00.013+08:00

Yes it is for REAL, it is raining in Egypt... One a supposedly sunny Friday afternoon,We are on our way to go to Citystars.

Hubby kept assuring me that the rain will be a short one and soon it will pass.

Both of us so hungry... and we are in the mood for something special... On The Border, Mexican Grill.. Yummy Fajita and this portion is only for one person, but we are smart we shared and we still can't finished it...

The grilled chicken is the best so far I had in Egypt, so tender and soft.. I love it...

This is like our curry puff, but inside the stuffing is cheese chicken... slups....

After a heavy lunch, and some good shopping... it is time to go home..
To our surprise, it is still raining and worse... some roads are flooding and closed for traveling...

Look at the ponds of waters....

here is another one.. luckily our car is tall so it is ok to drive through the water..
It took us more than 2 hours to reach home.. Sigh.. there are more in our house.. the wooden windows have alot of gap that allow the rain to slip in and along come with alot of dust as well. Our balcony is so dity due to the rain, some of our mops were all blown to grounds.

Next time a rain come I'm going to stay home.

Life of Pipi (7 months Old)

2008-11-04T14:42:00.018+08:00

Yeah I'm back home finally. One of my fav past time at home, TV... the TV remote is mine. Hmm why is it not working.... hmm no wonder no one is using it.

I know Daddy love me... BUT....

I dun like he carrying me like this.... people can see my pee pee...
(look How big I have grow!!)

Muhahah ops it should be miao miao... the bed is mine...

I may be 7 months old but I'm still a baby...
I like to be carry like this... BUT....

Not like this... It make me look firece and fat.

I'm enjoy my daily doses of rubbing my neck... So Shiok!!!

Mummy always said I can be a model.. Let me show you some of my profiles...
Handsome Egyptian Cat...

The China Cat... Small Eyes

I'm Captian Jack's Cat...

I'm a Korean Cat... Overall I'm Just a ....

Lazy Cat.. hehe And I really need to change the cage...
Look my legs are out of the cage.

See my point!! I'm a big boy, I need room...

Living in Egypt - Random

2008-11-02T05:01:00.014+08:00

At Singapore Embassy: We went to Singapore Embassy to celebrate the national day, during a summer evening.

At Singapore Embassy: The food at the celebration. We ate roti prata there! We mingled with a few Chinese Singaporean, we were the youngest couple there. I even tried to talk current world affair with the Ambassador! Haha...it was fun.

At Singapore Embassy: All must rise and sing national anthem before we start to feast...Majulah Singapura!

At Singapore Embassy: Don't geh geh pretend pretend, I knew you actually forgot how to sing the national anthem right? hehe

=================================================================

At Carrefour:Plenty of brinjals here in Egypt, purple and white colors. I love it but Eve don't. Uhh, I miss brinjal sambal...yummy!

At Carrefour: Summer is the season for mangoes, lots of it. Some of those tastes real good, and it's much more cheaper compared to Singapore.

=================================================================

At Pet Clinic: Pipi was staying inside the boarding facility of this clinic for almost 1.5months when we went back to Singapore in September. PiPi made some friends here: The Fat Cat and his buddy with a half naked tail. Both cats are very friendly and I think they are the permanent residents there.

At Pet Clinic: Fat Cat eating, eat eat eat....that's what he did most of the time when we were there, eating from tray A to B then back to tray A again.

"I Miss You both !"
He will soon has a reunion with his buddies at the clinic. We will check him in again for our December trip back home.

-VinCe

Friends & Pyramid

2008-10-22T01:18:00.012+08:00

Our friends Wendy and Louis came to visit us! I hope they enjoyed their stay here, especially the taxi ride, hehe!

The Nile View from our hotel room. Wendy and Loius actually let us stay at a very grand Conrad Hotel situated along the Nile for 2 nights!

Dinner at Fusion Restaurant: We had shasimi, teppanyaki and some local beers!

Fellacus night ride on the Great Nile: We took the boat ride after the dinner, it was powered by winds and it was an important mode of transportion during ancient Egypt.

Khalili trip: 3 Singaporean taking pictures infront of a old mosque next to the market. I still feel eerily strange at times that we are acutally residing here

Pyramids!: Us on our second visit, still delighted to feel the presence and mystery of it so closely.

Eve was getting closer to the pyramids.....

....and getting even closer, she said she wanted to climb to the top...wah, this women is damn ambituous!

............I asked her to do some training on the miniature one first! haha!

I'm inside the tunnel that lead to a tomb area. It actually reminded me of our Tempurung Cave trip one year ago. Cry baby, you almost broke my heart.

The Great Sphinx of Giza.....who really need a nose job as some legends claim that the original nose was broken off by a cannon ball fired by Napoleon's soldiers.

-VinCe....I wonder where had those Great Egyptians who built these marvelous structure gone to....

GDL aka Guo Da Li

2008-10-19T15:21:00.012+08:00

This one of a must for chinese wedding. By right, the male should get his dad, brother and a Mei po to come and ask for my hand in marriage. But due to some reasons, my poor darling come all by himself. Luckliy, mummy dun mind. And She even took a day off to help him.

By right, someone should help him carry all the things to my house. So in the end, I had to help him. Look at all these things, Cakes, 2 big heavy baskets.
This are the things the groom must give to the bride:

1st level: Me Sua, Gan(even nos of oranges), Pin Gin(ang pow), Yang Er Yu niu(ang pow), Si Dian Ji and Sweets.

2nd Level: 2 set of Long Feng Zhu(candles), 2 pcs of red cloths and sweets.

3rd Level: 2 Martell and 12 cans of pork leg.

And Over 25 boxes of Xi bing(cakes). The number is consider very little already.

My Beloved mommy, and her baby gal that is getting marry.

This are the things the bride give the groom. Yes alot of more things than groom to give the bride. That matteress sheet alot cost my dear mommy, almost 900RM. Thanks to my parents for doing so much things for me. I love them.

Look at how happy he is when he see so many things. hahaha!!

Wedding Album

2008-10-19T02:53:00.046+08:00

Here is the Photos for my wedding album, the actual album looks better as there are more special effects and computer backdrop. Silly me I should had ask for the soft copy for that as well. Ah well, but I think I had a very good deal with this Bridal studio, Elegance wedding studio. They are located in JB, Taman sentosa. Thanks to my dad and mum, for going throught all this sourcing for the right bridal. In the end, we chose them for their good service and the package that was given to me. 3 wedding album that is a lot. and 30 poses. It is worth the money, and it is better than Singapore one. My personal view.

I'm Back In action!!!

2008-10-19T00:32:00.012+08:00

Haha.. It had been awhile... Do you miss me? Muhahaha

Let had a quick updated what had happened in my life so far.

Back Track:

Before returning to Singapore on the 20th Aug 2008, I had baked a cake for my dear. Well it is his 32 Birthday. Muhahaha. Hi there "old man".

I know his fav food is Jiao Zi. So I decided to make him alot of them. And of course bake him a cake. Well with the limited resources, like beater, pork and etc. But not to worry, I solved most of the problems. I found a German Butcher, that sell only Pork and his pig is very save. As for the beater, I use my god speed hand to do the job. hahaha!!!

I made alot in case I'm not around. He can cook them for a quick snack.

The big one is Him and the small one is for me.

I prefer homemade Jiao zi. I can place as many fillings as I like and any fillings I like. Look How big it is. haha...

My pineapple turnover cake for his birthday. Happy Birthday my dear!!! Love you!!

As my Dear's birthday is on the 18th Aug, and I'm leaving on the 20th Aug. I'm worry that he have no one to cook supper for him so I make a lot of jiao zi and also I make cookies for him to eat. I hope he like,my butter raisin cookies!!

What to do with this cat?

2008-10-15T16:24:00.003+08:00

The cage is his sleeping place. He got use to it when living in the pet hotel for 1 months. Sometimes he sleep on our couch sometimes in his cage.

The photo was taken when he's awaken by the sound of my footsteps, he crawled out (exactly like the way Sadako crawling out from the TV), but his sleepiness got the best of him and he gave up half way, and continue his sweet nap!

2008-10-13T21:26:00.005+08:00

Despite been living in Cairo for 10 months, the return stir up a familiar feelings: the internal struggling on making choices.

I faces many situation in Cairo that needs me to decide and make a choice, both at work and personal life; whereby a right choice might not be the best choice.

I think it's a process that bothers most of the foreigner. The struggle is amplified when that foreigner is living in Cairo. I can bet on that.

The language, the environment, the culture, the people....sometimes you really don't know who to trust except your loved one.

Our friendly neighbour who is from China and runs a restaurant opposite our house, used to speed his car during mid night after some drinks: His way of venting out his frustration while living here.

I understand it's an even greater struggle for Eve.

=========================

I sold my 2.5 years old Toyota Vios, god blessed and I didn't have to lose too much.

Letting go is not easy at times.

This is my first car that I bought with my "blood" money. It gave us plenty of memories and lead us to many places that we won't be able to without it. It is a great car, low fuel consumption and reliable. Thank you.

===================================

We hired a maid to clean the house. Her name is Lamia (Dear, I wrote it here so you can refer if you forget again ^^). So far she's doing ok, we'll see. We are still waiting for more great Egyptians to walk into our life.

-VinCe

Brief Update

2008-10-09T21:55:00.002+08:00

We have returned to Cairo, after a month of whirlwind stay in Singapore.

The house is very dirty, we tried to get cleaner to clean the house before we return but "Hey, it's Egytp!". So, it didn't materialise as planned.

I tried to get the company cleaner to clean today. My face gone black when Eve called and tell me the cleaner didn't come.

The cleaner came to my office later and pull his colleague to help him to appologise to me, telling me that he didn't make it because his baby is sick. Feel quite bad about my anger, again, I shoudln't expect everyone to meet my expectation.

I have too many negative "qi" around me and affecting me after I touched down in Cairo, I need to generate more positive "qi" to fend off the bad one.

PiPi gave me some much needed good "qi", I picked him up from the pet hotel last night and he was so happy to see me, so was I. After 1 plus month not seeing him, he has put on another 1kg and has grown up to be a very handsome cat. His changes in size and appearance make me don't know how to scold him if he is naughty, because he looks like a matured adult now.

-VinCe

My animal friends

2008-08-27T22:52:00.006+08:00

Naughty cat PiPi

Blur dog Rocky

Cheeky Pong Pong
....
...
.

Errr....My Happy Bunny?

...and all of them like to do the same post for photoshot....

-VINcE

Finally....I got my driving license

2008-08-26T02:16:00.005+08:00

I can't get a Egypt driving license directly with my Singapore license. They only allowed some nationalities to have it without the need to go thru a theory and practical test.

So I went for the test. At first they want me to take theory test, abit panic lah, can't remember what are the difference between these signs:

- A blue background circle with a slash

- A blue background circle with a cross

- A white background circle with a slash

Today on the way to Alamein, I saw one sign having a camel drawn on it. This one I know lah, watch out for camel shit ahead right!?

Anyway, they later said no need theory test, because I look very clever and they don't want to waster their time.

Then I went on to take the driving test. The circuit is like the one in Singapore, but I have to enter the circuit from a back alley because they blocked the front entrance. When I queue up my car to wait for my turn, a horse was eating hay beside me. My colleague told me I can buy the horse for around 3000 LE.

Back to the circuit, I a bit kan chiong lah, the lane is so small, it's difficult to negotiate my 4WD around the corner! Then while we were queing, the woman infront of me forget to put on seat belt! Kena warning from officer but don't know she still pass or not. Then the guy behind me kena warning also, because he was talking...on his mobile phone while taking a driving test!

It's indeed an endless fun and amusement living in Egypt.

Then it's my turn, I think the only thing they want to test is my parallel parking...I don't know why. I abit panic, because the parking space a Kancil also can sweat trying to go in lah!

I salute the driving skill of Egyptian. Eventhough they seems to drive recklessly and give no regards to any traffic rules, they are still a more skillful driver compared to most Singaporean drivers!

We once took a black and white street cab, the driver drove like F1 Hamilton on ecstasy, we have many scary moment and the driver was able to avoid all the accidents last minute. I think that's the only time I had cold sweat taking a cab in the hot summer. I actually don't mind the other driver who turn on the Arabic pop music that can be heard 5km away, at least our hearing recovered after we get out from the cab.

So back to my test, I don't think I park my 4WD fully inside the box, because I know if I move abit more forward, I will hit the cone, abit more backward, also kena cone. Before I try to re-align the car any further, the officer yelled to me and say ok! Pass!....don't ask me why...I think he never see anyone manage to squeeze a 4WD inside the box until that day...that's why he let me pass lor.

There you go, they issued the license on the spot and it's valid for 10 years.

I still wonder why the other day a cabby still manage to pick up passenger, with one punctured tyre.

-VINcE

Khan Al Khalili

2008-08-26T01:45:00.008+08:00

2 weeks ago we went to Khan Al Khalili to do some souvenier shopping. That was also the first time we try metered taxi, which has air con and proper door handles! The taxi fare is about the same as the black and white, older than my grandfather but yet still fast and reckless cab.

Some photo we took inside the restaurant at Khalili before we start to shop.

Can shop, smile big big!

Aiyoyo, money not enough

hmm! I don't care!

.......Shen ah, jiu jiu wo ba!

The old man who started the restaurant...

Ready, get set....go go go ! She can shop faster than Usain Bolt.

Local craft shop

This is how it looks like...the shopping street in Khalili. This section mostly sell gold.

We bargained hard, slash the price to around 50%. I think we are still paying too much, next time we should try 80%.

Beside asking me whether I am from China, most of the shop owner like to call me "Lucky man!" I wonder why they think I am lucky, I mean, my wife spent away my money and I never tiok the 8million TOTO what.

-VINcE

Alone and at Alamein again

2008-08-26T01:36:00.002+08:00

I am going to stay here for 4 days, to do some follow up on the audit before I go back Singapore on 3 Sept.

Four new hire I found at Alamein machine shop...looks like they have been left behind by their mothers....PiPi is so lucky.

My dinner prepared by in house chef, looks yummy hor?

Eve is now in Singapore and we are just bored and start the staring at each other see who blink first game

-VINcE

PiPi went to see Vet

2008-08-09T16:03:00.003+08:00

PiPi went to the vet. He is not sick, we just want to check him in to the pet boarding house while we are away.

He was protesting hard and keep crying along the way, CRY BABY!!

The vet did a general check on him and gave him a thumbs up. He is very healthty (and naughty ^^). PiPi even got his own health card now!

PiPi's health card, look, he is 2.45kg now!

A random photo of PiPi with cheeky expression as usual

-VINcE

Friday is rest day..we chiong!!!

2008-08-02T05:27:00.007+08:00

OK let me intro to you: The Egypt's Metro aka Singapore's MRT.. But pls minus the parts where we can have Air-con, better chairs, Less people and Not that stuffy in Singapore. I miss our MRT... Egypt's is too old school.

While we tried to pass the time while waiting for the metro, we posed for pictures for our blog.. I had to tied up my hair up, as it is too hot to let it down!!!

And Here, my darling in his new haircut. Which I must said very good, and he must thanks me, because I researched alot of Info from the egypt forums to get where is the best Hair salon. And it is worth every cent!!! Today there is a sales guy from a shop tell him his haircut look very good, and where he cut it and how much?? See darling must trusted your wife advices when it comes to these things.

We are having dinner at the Shopping centre, Arkadia Mall, we are able to find seats that is directly facing the Nile River.

After shopping in that lousy mall, we gave up. There is nothing worth buying and nothing caught our fancy. So we decided to go somewhere to listen to live music and have a drink and chat. So I suggested Hard Rock Cafe at the Grand Hyatt. There we had some salad, cheese cake, red wine and beer.

My dear drinking a bottle of beer and I had finished my glass of red and ordered another, my Fav.. Long Island Tea.

This is very entertaining the whole HRC crews are dancing YMCA. We like it very much!!

Happy news today::: Pipi know how to use the toilet bowl to do is pee pee. And I rewarded him with half a chicken hotdog... pipi is a good boy. Sayang u!!

2008-07-24T02:00:00.005+08:00

An "intensely" contested Sleeping King/Queen competion is ongoing.

It is a hot summer afternoon.

The air con is humming, injecting the arena with the much needed comfort.

The calmness fused with the air, the silent duel has lasted longer than expected.

.......it's not going to end anytime soon, I'm afraid so.

...and the winner will get to keep this mice I found on the street of Maadi.

-VINcE

Why....

2008-07-14T15:49:00.002+08:00

Why:

Expat has to pay extra cab fare and get yelled at even if we pay fairly.
Everyone has to ask where I come from. I already told you I come from Mars.
You yelled again when I was not interested to buy your cold drinks....I have weak stomach you know?
I never see you wash the cup after that uncle gulp down your drink and you offer the same cup to me.
You have to pick up the biscuit you accidentally drop onto the dirty floor, put it back to the bag and sell it to me. Didn't you notice that you are looking at a horrified Chinese man?
I must pay extra monthly fees to bawaab
Must you make me think lowly of you after I found out that you double charged me on the monthly fees
My ADSL line has been activated for 3 months and I still don't get any signal
Every time I call your technical support about the problem and you tell me not to worry it will work the next day.
The next day my ADSL still dead
The pedestrian pavement is always clustered with rubbish
You dig so many holes on the pavement and leave those bricks scattered around
Must you build so many advertisement boards on the pavement that leave me no space to get thru to the other side

-VINcE......tell me why.

What a Cat can do....

2008-07-14T15:21:00.003+08:00

....after I had my 4th supper of the night
....sharpened my claws
....finished my urgent business
....digging bunch of tissue paper out from the bin and slashes them into pieces
....ambushed mummy but she seems to know where I hide everytime
....give daddy a bite but he keep knocking my head everytime I try to show some love
....haiz, he seems to be angry with me, ignored me and go to read his book
....I even try to act cute by seating next to him and give him my kawa-ee look
....and he still wanna act cool
....maybe I can try switching TV channels to irritate him...I know he hates channel switching
....and turn the volume to full blast...he sure hates it!!!
..............
.........
....
Oh shit....I actually doze off before I manage to turn on the TV...and daddy caught me red handed. Siao liao, tomorrow sure no yummy cat food for breakfast liao.

Random Update

2008-07-13T14:41:00.007+08:00

It's been quite awhile since we wrote something on our blog. Miraculously..time seems to be propelled by a pair of wings.

ADSL at our apartment is down at the moment, we are trying very hard to get it fixed (you need extra calories intake to handle the frustration of setting things right here). Our neighbour Rosy has gone back to Spain so the option of connecting to her ADSL line is out as well..

I am still chuckling whenever I heard this from the Egypt tourism advertisement on CNN :

" Egypt offers you their most precious treasure , THE SUN ".

Most of the Egyptian that I spoke to didn't seems to aligned to that statement, they dislike the heat during summer and prefer winter. July's weather is hot but still bearable. I heard that the August heat is the most punishing, we shall see.

I am actually quite fascinated by what Egypt can really offer me, aside from the SUN and some annoyances. I would say so far I am enjoying the life here and I didn't miss Singapore that much!

There is still so much for me to explore in Egypt. We shall be more active travelling around when the summer is over and the weather is more accommodating.

We are expecting a few groups of friends to visit us, we will try to travel with them whenever my work schedule permits...Red Sea, Mt Sinai, Alexandria, Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel, the desert.

We also has the luxury to visit the neighbouring country across Mediterranean Sea..The Europe..Spain, France, England, Turkey...it's going to be fun!

Here's the official website of Egyptian Tourist Authority: Here here here....

Some photos:

We went to Wagamama restaurant at CityStar for our dinner. I supposed it's a Japanese restaurant even though their menu is not convincing enough.

Chicken Ramen. Eve ordered this and was surprised to see the ramen was served in dry. Haha, she didn't read properly....as usual lah :p

This is my soupy ramen! The soup was quite standard and the rest was just barely edible. I only ate 1 piece of the meat and the rest "ta bao" as a supper for PiPi.

My company laptop is less than 6-months old, and start to give shit. Strangely though, it has stopped giving shit for 2 weeks now. I suspect it got something to do with the electrostatic charges. Due to the dry weather, static shock is actually quite common here. During the winter, I actually developed a minor phobia whenever I want to wash my hand :"Shock...shock...and more shock."

PiPi is growing healthily and exponentially. He was last weighted yesterday at 1.75kg, gaining 150g in just a week time.

He's the sleeping champion in the house, and also a whining king. He will whine and whine whenever he is hungry. He also want a bite of everything that we eat... Spoilt child!

-VINcE

Really Noti Pipi

2008-07-02T20:00:00.004+08:00

Yes I backed these, this afternoon. I wanted to try if my baking skill is still intact, not bad on the outside. I had a taste on one of the muffin. Yum Yum. Very nice. But the way it is Blueberry muffin, double yummy...

Careless Evelyn left the tray of delicious blueberry muffins on the table. And this give pipi a chance to grab a bite or two. See he ate 2 of them.... so angry with him and myself. Hubby said maybe he is trying to show some support to me, But I think he is just curious to try anything that is edible.

Ok here is the Killer, trying to look innocent and cute with the head and eyes.

Pipi's thinking: Not me, not me, it is not my fault. It is their fault, they seduced me.

Fusion Rest - in Cario

2008-06-28T20:35:00.003+08:00

Hmm, any idea with this setting what food are we eating. Simple it is Japanese Tepanyaki. Yummy.... The resturant name is Fusion I just happen to see it in a dinning guide. And I miss Tepanyaki and have a great craving for Sashimi. Yeee.

This the Chopstick box.

Hubby's thinking: Why I let her decide on where to eat, this place look Expensive. SHIT

Hubby's Thinking: Hmm of course you look happy, I'm upset. My pocket is burning right through now.

Hubby's Thinking': Oh no.... This is really expensive total cost for each person is S$70, that will be around 550LE. That is an normal Egyptian 2months pay. My wife sure know how to spend.

Here come the sashimi, look how hungry Hubby. FYI, the sashimi is good, very good, better than the first sashimi I had in Cairo.

WOW, we finished this in mintues and we finished almost everything.

My first Miso soup

This is what in the soup, no very nice, salty and the tofu taste and smell like, taiwanese smelly tofu.

Here is the starter, salad.

Look the chef, make the egg stand.

Tepanyaki fried rice

The fried sotong and 2 large tiger prawn.

Chicken, Beef and veggies.

Overall, the Sashimi is great, the tepanyaki is not bad, there is room for improvement, like the beef they can try slicing it in thin pcs instead of cubes. So far the best Tepanyaki, I had is in Taiwan. Great seafood, beef because they uses wine and spices. But over all the Sashimi is very fresh, the stuns the tepanyaki chef perform is very entertaining, very rare to see it is Singapore.

First movie in Egypt : The Happening

2008-06-23T18:43:00.007+08:00

Ok I had to admit, when Hubby said want to bring me for a movie, I actually feel a bit scare worry that it is going to be some sleazy, lousy cinema, probably with fleas in the chairs, that will come out and bite me or foul smell or maybe a few 小強 aka cockroaches rounding here and there. And the toilet will look like some scene from some ghost movies. Haha, why do I feel like this, because I had been to the worst cinemas before, when I''m just a little gal, my parents brought us to Malaysia for holidays, we might go for movies so that was how the cinema look like, if my memory din''t fail me. This should justify my worry. :P

When the first look at the cinema does look that bad.

The first Cinema, we been to in Cairo, at the Family Land. Per Ticket cost 30L.E and we even get to choose the seats. Note: If the time state starting at 6:30pm, there will be half an hour of previews of other shows. So remember in Egypt, nothing is on time. Something really amuse me is that, halfway through the movie. The film stopped, and everyone start to move out from the cinema, I was wondering what is going on. Is the 2nd half of the movie not ready for showing? hmmm.. Then I realised they are giving us a 5 mins break, for toilet visiting or for some it is time to have a breath of "fresh air".

Haha, time to review the movie The happening. Well it is an average movie for me, the sliver line for the movie is about the mother nature is attacking us by using the plants to release some toxic that control our brain and make us kill ourselves, because we are doing to much harm to the earth and the earth is trying to warn us we must stop global warming. But Hubby dun really like the movie, he find that it is very stupid. He still prefer M. Night Shyamalan's , The Sixth Sense. I had not watch that movie, but heard many good review. In fact, after the movie I heard a few movie goers said they too prefer The Sixth Sense. Haha so judge it for yourself.

I want to watch Kung Fu Panda!!!! That is the flim we are suppose to watch, but too bad the cinema was not showing at the moment. :(

Dinner before the Movie - Momen

2008-06-23T00:52:00.011+08:00

This my first time trying - Momen. Their Fast food, though the counter staffs english is very limited. But we are able to get our meals. Over here, I learned something new, combo mean set with soft drinks and fries. Stay or away means: stay means eat here, and away means take away. Below is the menu.

After we order, they gave us a no. But funny thing, they never check the no and never take it back also. haha.

Ok here is our meal, Yummy or not here go.

Here is hubby, Chicken Tender Spicy.

This is mine, Philly cheese steak

This the fries, special designed box to make the fries stand. Good idea.

See the design of the fries box is been trademark.

Overall, not bad for local fast food. But I still prefer Hardee's that is what the Egypt name for Carl's Jr.

Pipi is growing!!

2008-06-22T05:36:00.007+08:00

Well, he is growing and looking very handsome. But he is still very very notti... His fav pastime, play with his tail, ambuse us and try to fight with our feet, play with the curtain, play with tissue paper from the dustin, fighting with the shoelaces, sockes, shoes and still like to bite people. He still dun response to his name, but he response when we open the Fridge door, he is always hungry. He will eat, play then sleep. This is where he slept last night.

So cute!!!

Pipi the rascal model to be!!

Dine out & Visit to Alfra supermarket.

2008-06-22T01:20:00.011+08:00

Hubby brought me to eat Egyptian food - Abou Shakra (http://www.aboushakra.com/). We had Shewerma Abou Shakra (chicken). It tasted great, I like it very much. And for main course we had Abou Shakra kebab and Krofta grilled on charcoal with fries and a stuffed pigeon with mixed rice & nuts. For sure there is dessert, yummy!!! Egyptian Omm Ali.

This is the starter, their "bread"with butter. There is 2 types, one is the biscuit type and the other is like soft. We prefer the soft one.

All the dishes have arrived. From the left it is the, soft "bread", the Shewerma Abou Shakra (chicken), Abou Shakra kebab and Krofta grilled on charcoal with fries and a stuffed pigeon with mixed rice & nuts.

This is the a stuffed pigeon with mixed rice & nuts. Well the Rice and nuts is in the pigeon!!

Tada..... the rice is mixed with spices, nuts and raisins. Though the pigeon is a bit skinny, not much meat but it is still ok with me.

Abou Shakra kebab and Krofta grilled on charcoal with fries, the long thing that look like sagauges is the Krofta and the meat is kebab. Till now I'm still thinking if it is lamb or beef... Ok now it is time for dessert!!!

This is the Omm Ali, it is very very sweet. We only have at most 4 bites. It is way too sweet. After the the dinner, Hubby bring to another supermarket, well luckily it is not as packed as Carrefour. I found Ostrich egg, selling at L.E 25, around SIN $5plus. The supermarket is so hot and stuffy. I think I will stick shopping at metro, R&S, Carrefour and Seoudi.

Fish

2008-06-19T15:50:00.003+08:00

I bought fish for the first time in Egypt.

After numerous reading about badly polluted Nile River in Egypt, I haven't ate much seafood. I am particularly cautious about the food condition here as I don't want to fall sick after eating them. The medical service provided here is one of the "horror" story I read quit often.

As a newcomer, there's no way I can find out where the fishes on the market come from. We have seen some not very fresh fish and shrimps on the supermarket. Oh, and the crabs they have are so tiny that I doubt there's enough meat in it for us to suck it out!

Since Eve is now here to take care of our daily meals, I have decided to give her more cooking options other than beef, chicken, turkey and rabbit meat.

So, I went to a nearby shop to buy fish. I have frequent this shop for their shrimp and calamari rice before, but have never tasted any fish there. When I was there this time, they were loading new stock of fishes and I can see from the eye of the fishes that it's very fresh.

I picked my fish and it's selling at 60LE/kilo. I don't know the name fo the fish, I have problem recognising the fish name, unless they have cute name like Nemo...hehe..

I didn't realise that I have actually picked the most expensive fish, my colleague told me few days after I bought the fish. Anyway, I am very satisfied with the "catch". The meat is sweat and taste good when steamed.

I also gained some confident on this shop as my colleague who "self-proclaimed" himself as a picky seafood eater, gave good rating about the freshness of the fish in this shop. He said those fishes might be coming from Port Said or Alexandria off the Mediterranean sea

This weekend, we are going to eat more fish!

-VINcE

Sore!

2008-06-16T14:36:00.008+08:00

I refused to become like that guy in the picture, say like 10 years later. Eve likes my rounded belly but I hated it! It's hard to bend down to tie my shoe lace with a big belly blocking the way you know?!

Since my arrival in Cairo, I have limited opportunity to exercise. I didn't get good chance to jog around due to the weather and air pollution. I started to appreciate the jogger friendly environment in Singapore.

Eve has managed to locate a pretty comfort place to exercise: in a gym, with air con some more. We joined the gym a weeks ago and has started our fat burning regime.

My muscles are crying in pain and soreness now. Inner thigh pain, hand pain, shoulder pain.... I even have problem scrubbing my back during shower.

But, like others said "No pain, no gain".....if we continue to push on, eventually we will be looking like the couple in the picture below:

..........but I ain't going to wear a PINK pantie!!!!!!!!!

-VINcE

A kitten's life

2008-06-11T15:50:00.003+08:00

"Alamak, I am trapped by this stupid sliding door!"

"The couch is mine now! I will take over the whole house sooner or later..hahah...meowrrrr!!"

The weather is hot.....

2008-06-09T18:45:00.003+08:00

.....and hence the cat feels sleepy all the time.

Found a nice cosy space for a quick nap, it's a little too crampy though. But I am too lazy to go find another place. What the heck, I will just sleep with my belly up.

kua si mi kua! I just had a heavy lunch and find it too bloated to lay down for a nap, and now you want to come and disturb me!

-VINcE

Influx of good fortune

2008-06-09T14:19:00.002+08:00

Well, as Eve has mentioned, there's up and down living in Egypt. But today I am very happy that our ADSL finally works!

I woke up 5am in the morning, suddenly felt like Albert Einstein after a brief midnight business trip to the loo.

So I went to the living room and start to setup the networking.

It finally works! Don't call me noob anymore ok!

Another good news, I am getting my work Visa soon, very soon. This time for real.

More good news, I managed to "bargain" for another 4WD at a cut throat price! As good as a giveaway buy lah!

Wew, my money plant start to work its magic! hehe

-VINcE

Start to feel How bad it is!!

2008-06-08T19:20:00.006+08:00

I read a few actiles that said egyptians are helpful and willing to help. Yes there are but I very sure that the security guard at my apartment is no a kind soul. Last monday, my husband asked the security guard to help us buy LPG tank.

Well, this should not be a problem for him. So he quickly came and change one for us and charged us 50L.E for one tank, that is the same size we used in singapore. And asked my hubby to give him 20L.E for tips. So my hubby gave him.

Haha, something happened yesterday. No more gas to cook. We are so angry with that guard, we paid 70L.E for the tank and it only lasted for 5 days. I never cook alot, Obviously, the AssH guard played some tricks, by giving us a almost empty tank of gas and charge us 70L.E

So my hubby go down to see where can he get a new tank of gas. Then he remember opposite our house there live a China family that open a Chinese restaurant. So he when there to check with them, and they are very helpful they gave us a free full tank and even help us change the gasket.

So yesterday dinner we dun cook, and we go to their restaurant to eat. And for the first time, in 6months my hubby finally eat fish!!! It is very tasty!!

we finished the fish... Yummy!!

What I understand from the lady boss, a full tank cost only 8L.E... See how greedy is the security guards... He charge us 70L.E. The kindhearted lady boss, said next time when our gas finished, just place it at their restaurant and they will help us buy. So nice of them.

Today is dumpling day, they even invite us to go over to celebrate with them, she even make dumplings. Haha we have dumpling to eat. But I miss my mummy make one.

Single woman

2008-06-08T16:13:00.002+08:00

I wrote something for my classmate in one of our class mail. I was trying to "terrified" her of the reality that she might only realised after she is too old to find a partner.

I would think eventually when we grow older, life would be more fulfilling if you have a partner by your side, a family.

Here's what I wrote to her:

--------
致丽韵，

好男人的心比较容易碎。
坏男人没良心，无隙可击，就像老成与无核。
请多小心，小心偷心的男人。

你不耕作，怎知收成。
你不点燃，怎会发光。

岁月，在女人的脸上留下了痕迹。
女人，又为痕迹铺上了粉彩。
一直这样, 年复一年。

直到一天，她铺粉彩的手再也把持不着疯狂蔓延的岁月。
她细研镜中的自己，默然发现，脸上的痕迹，没有故事。

镜子湿了，她也哭了。
--------

老成 = lau seng and 无核 = bo hook. My 2 naughtly male friends...hehe!

Captured!

2008-06-08T14:43:00.010+08:00

Captured #1: Hit and run!

The way Egyptian maneuver their vehicle is something shocking and at times funny for me to watch.

Not too long ago, I witnessed a 4WD hit and bumped away an old car to create more parking space. The old car was obviously not on handbrake (or maybe it doens't even has any handbrake). It slided forward for 3 or 4 feet after the bump. o_O"

What I have captured here is a story of how a lady driver tried to parallel "squeezed" her car into the space between a Chevloret Optra and a BMW Sedan.

I used the word "squeeze" and not "park", because it's was so obvious that the space in between these 2 cars was simply too small, unless she can do like what we see in the "Shao Lin Soccer" movie, use "Lu Lai Shen Zhan" to push the car in.

The lady driver tried many time and gave up eventually. The Chevrolet's rear bumper was scratched during her last try.

I asked my Egyptian colleague once, what should we do if we involved in similar incident, he told me "fuck the guy".

.........well, what he meant was you simply shout at each other and then drive away.

It's not like in Singapore whereby you would expect the person at fault to make some compensation. In Egypt, you should come down from your car, shout and curse at the driver at fault like a crazy man and kick the bumper as hard as you can at the same time. Do all this while the driver is still inside the car (if he's at fault lah!)

Don't laugh hor, I didn't make this up, I saw it myself at a busy roundabout. The shouting man was so out of pitch at top of his voice.

Captured #2: Plant in my office room

I asked my company gardener to put some pots of plant inside my office room. I like the money plant on top very much.

I have one old money plant that followed me for about 4 years already. I am not a believer of feng shui or good luck charm, but I somehow like the money plant very much.

I think part of the reason is the "never give up spirit" of the plant, other than the good name. A dying money plant can grow back very fast if you give the plant some water, peel off the drying leave promptly and feed it some sunshine once in awhile.

The gardaner is awarded with a certification from Tree Lovers Club in Maadi recently. So, don't pray pray ok! My gardener got cert one!

Captured #3: Expensive Tropical *Rotten* Fruits!

We went to Carrefour for some late night shopping last Friday. It was so crowded! We sweared to never visit Carrefour again during weekend.

We found some tropical fruits there. Based on the pricing, I guess they are something considered very rare and precious in Egypt.

Lychee: 15.05LE per pack= SGD4
Mangosteen: 6 pieces for 29.80LE = SGD 1.30 per piece!
Rambutan: 14.75LE for than 10 pieces = SGD3.80 a pack of ROTTEN rambutan!

Well, I can start to import tropical fruits to Egypt and make a fortune here.

-VINcE

My first haircut in Egypt!

2008-06-07T23:12:00.005+08:00

I have been very relunctant to get my hair trimmed by Egyptian barber, after experiencing the way they fix our apartment. Especially after they fixed the clothes hanger upside down.

My last hair cut was done 5 months ago. It grew longer and longer but I still failed to persuade myself to pay the local barber a visit.

I had trouble comb my long hair to my liking (to look like Jing Cheng Wu), the weather is getting hotter and my wife is nagging almost everyday about my hair. She said I looked like a woman from behind, I thought she was referring to my butt...hehe.

Today, I felt that I might be lucky to get a good haircut (man's gutsy sense), and hence I went to the nearby Ryan Hair Salon. The salon is for man only and the barber is a man also. Female don't cut hair for man here, so no beautiful mei mei lor.

First look at the interior of the salon and it doesn't look like the Malay/Indian barber shop at all! Happy lah!

My barber is Mustafa, speak a little English and I asked him to guess my nationality.

Japan, Thailand, Taiwan(wow!), China, America (hmm...why? I don't look like ang moh leh).....all wrong! Lucky, he is quite good at cutting hair.

I showed him my photo of my short hair, and I told him :"Same Same like Beckham!". hehe...

My sample photo for hair cut

Very heng today, the barber replicated my hair cut quite successfully.

My new hair cut!

Overall, it was a very satisfying visit. Hair wash + hair cut cost me 40LE. As long as they don't mess up my hair, I am happy to pay.

Before I leave the salon, the barber point at my hair on the floor and said :"Your hair many, like what I cut in 1 month!"

Hehe...what a well spent 40LE.

-VINcE

New Family Member!!! Pipi

2008-06-07T01:02:00.012+08:00

Super 欠扁 look

My hubby adopted this cat to the family, so he can keep me company. I''d named him Pipi because he is very naughty and like to hide and bite people not like QQ. So I call him Pipi, chinese call 玩皮, english name Rascal.

I''m very innocent!!

We are thinking to send him away, because he is very notti, keep running away from us and bite us. He rather play with the curtains than play with us. He will only look for us when he is hungry.

Go away, I dun like to see you!!!

Ready for action to play the curtains or telephone wires.

Korea Food In Egypt

2008-06-07T00:33:00.003+08:00

Well my hubby deiced to reward me for begin so hardworking to mop the whole house. And FYI the I mopped the house 4 times and the floor was so dusty with fine desert sand blown into the house when ever we opened the windows. Well just have to mop it every 3 days. Beside mopping the house, I rearrange the house furniture to make it look more spacious. Honesty I dun like all the furniture in the house too European style. We plan to move to another house with better house layout next year. There is 3 bedrooms but only one bathroom.

Ok back to the Korea Food, it surprise me again, they serve authentic Korea food and most importantly, they serve PORK!!!!!!! Muhahaha So there is PORK, yeah!!!! HOLD on, where is the pork from?? Well it is specially air flown from Korea, according to the Lady boss. She is Egyptian and she know how to speck and write Korean. And her hubby is a Korean. So they serve very authentic Korea food and they employed a Korean to be their chef. So the food should be good, but it is not really so great, the Bugogi is jus so-so... the meat are all very tough. Disappointed.

Japanese food in egypt

2008-05-31T19:18:00.014+08:00

It is my 3rd day in this strange country. Today my Hubby bring to to the Maadi Grand Mall. Yes it is older looking than the City star shopping mall, but it have very nice looking heels and bags there. Hubby bought a pair heels for me which I like very much. After shopping there, we come across a Japanese restaurant. I suddenly have an urge to eat sashimi... though I know the fish might not be very fresh, but I'm willing to try.

The restaurant name and menu, we are able to take this home and call them for home delivery.

If you are dinning in the restaurant you need to spend at least 25LE per person.

I like the Al fresco dinning style of the restaurant.

Me ordering the food.

Hubby looking so relax and handsome!!!

Hubby and Me. I feel so happy to see him again.

My fav photo for the day. Taken by Hubby..

Finally the food is here!!! And to my surprise the fish taste good and it is not smoked salmon. Better than I excepted.

The teriyaki eel handroll taste very good. Overall the food taste good and it is abit expensive total it cost us 120LE. Well seafood in Cairo is expensive.

City Star

2008-05-30T13:56:00.004+08:00

Yesterday, we went to City Star, the mega shopping mall at Nasr City.

I bought a hand phone and subscribed a new phone line for bb.

After, we had our dinner at the Rain Forest Restaurant. bb was very impressed with the service of one of the waiter.

Indeed it was a pretty good trip, we also managed to get the phone line without much hassle.

BB at Rain Forest Restaurant, very happy and pretty :)

The monkey at the Rain Forest, keep staring at us while we were having our meal.

noob?

2008-05-27T20:15:00.004+08:00

bb,
Am I a noob when come to computer networking?

I went to TEdata with Hesham to collect the router but si beh tulan the guy said the name of my ADSL account is under Isabella (company admin who helped to apply for the line). I must ask her to collect personally.

Then why the hell you guys sent me an email to ask me to collect it? What a mess up country.

At first Hesham was lorlorlam in Arabic with the TEdata staff, I knew something is going to screw up already. So I proceed to talk to the guy and asked him how if I buy the router myself, just give me the network account and password.

Surprisingly, he agreed to it. I am not sure what is the logic behind this. You refused to let me collect the router (even though I brought the email print out there), but you let me have the account details? Hmmm...better not to think too much!

This might not be a very good decision. Anyway, I proceed to collect the account details.

I went to buy the router but couldn't find any splitter at the main pc shops. So I asked around and finally got one near our apartment for 5LE.

I went home happily thinking that finally we can have our own Internet connection at home.

Well, the fact is that I bought the wrong router (no build it ADSL modem), and also I need an extra phone line. So I went out to get them. Then I tried to connect to the network with many trial and errors but failed. There's no instruction or any manual given by TEdata at all, and this is the first time I try to hook up the network consisting of phone + splitter + modem + router.

I suspect this might not due to my noobness, there's something wrong with the voice line (phone line), because there's no dial tone at all. I can call the number but the phone doesn't ring. It has been like this since few weeks ago, but I do not suspect anything as I thought this is normal after the splitting/activation of ADSL.

Oh well, very frustrating. I think if I can survive here for another 2 years, I will be pretty much immunised to any amount of nonsense.

While I am writing this, the cleaner who is supposed to clean our house for one last time before you arrive just broke our marble lining of the kitchen table. Arrhhh!!!! I checked the situation and can't really blame him because the way the marble attached to the table is not very firm. But still, I cannot stand the way they work, I have been using this marble top for 4 months and nothing happens. He must have rested his whole body weight on it, and yes, he is twice as fat compared to me.

I called the contractor again, so today I will be expecting 3 contractors late evening. 1 from the telecoms and another 2 from maintenance (remember? They always come in pair!).

I just try to make everything sui sui before you come, but those people has totally made it worst lor. I sad sad also now...... :p

Hopefully they can do a better job this evening. INSAH-ALLAH!

-VINcE

Update: Today is almost a history, and none of the contractor turn out! I think there's a good business opportunity to setup a service company (especially building maintenance and telecommunication). Give proper customer service training to your front line employee, make sure all your employees are competent and provide on time delivery of service. I think many customers woud not mind paying a premium to exhange for excellent and hassle free service.
A training centre would be another altenative.

Today bb sad sad like rocky :(

2008-05-27T04:20:00.007+08:00

Finally, after 2 months and persistence follow up on this week, ISP TEdata told me the ADSL is ready. They only "split"the phone line to voice and data. I need to setup the rest. WTF, getting so used to all in one service in Singapore already.

I went to buy router. But I can't find a splitter for phone and ADSL so scrap the plan. Tomorrow I am going to ask Hesham to fix it. Probably will rent the hardware from the ISP, and get them to setup everything.

Contractor also came to change out the light bulbs, but did not install the filter. I am going to made more pesky call every single day hor!

As usual, the worker kuku as hell and came in pair again. They counted the light bulbs but missed out one. They went to buy light bulbs but came back forgot to fix 2 of them. While they were scratching their head wondering why they still have 2 extra fucking bulbs, I have to offer my consultation service to them again. I was sitting at the couch and just wait for something to happen. No choice, they never ceased to amaze me.

Wouldn't it be less blood boiling if I fix it myself? The reasons why I don't:
-I don't have a ladder and I don't feel like buying one
-No need to buy the bulbs myself
-I don't want to mess with the already very mess up electrical system...safety first!
-I am lazy

Oh yeah, they fixed a super big light bulb at the bathroom...much bigger than the original one. Damn.

-VINcE
ps: bb if you read this, please remember to bring your receipt for Visa....can claim. Bring fish oil also.
pps: Please don't feel too sad. When you sad sad, you are very forgetful and you will trip and fall down easily. Later you forget to board the plane how?

Medical Checkup

2008-05-26T16:55:00.002+08:00

I went to medical check up today. The whole process was a breeze, my colleague told me I was lucky.

I am not sure whether it's the techique or the needle is too big, my blood drain out and stain my clothes. :( But I am ok, I have no blood phobia.

Today I am going to get the contractor over to fix some lights and install water filter at our apartment.

Countdown to Eve's arrival. Happy ^^!

-VINcE

Update on nabeh II : My colleague told me the guy has paid the fine. Now only he realised that he has to pay the fine plus no body want to buy his car!? His maths failed big time! Bugger, now you want to sell to me again? USD4000 is what I am going to pay (I am very relunctant to buy even at this price, because I hate to deal with person with no integrity, but Eve said should consider...eventhough the color is so shitty)

Update on potential buy

2008-05-25T23:05:00.004+08:00

I came back from viewing another car. It's an Isuzu SUV V6 3.5L engine. Not a very common SUV brand around Asia region but their trucks are not rare.

I had a short test drive and.....so weird! This is a left handed driving car and I am so used to right handed driving already. The acceralator and brake paddle are in the same location but now I have to use my right hand to do gear shifting. This made my legs confused abit on the paddle stepping choice. Don't laugh.

The wiper and signal level switched side also. I was trying to turn on the signal lights but instead I turned on the wiper. Lucky no body see me :p.

It looks welly maintained internally and externally, even te engine compartment looks surprisingly clean. The only thing that's not very new is the front tyres. Richard (the aussie seller who has lived here for 6 years and moving to Qatar) told me you can get a second hand tyre at 100LE. My old Aprillia bike tyre was 400++LE for a new one, so what the heck, small problem.

It has a nice automatic sun-roof, milage is good:40k for an 6 years old car. Heh, my Vios has 50k milage in 1.5 years.

Dear, I think you will like this car more than the previous one. Maybe you can get your licence here and drive me around ok! :)

-VINcE

Update: The nabeh guy just called, changed his mind now? Nabeh, Chinese guy can be bastard sometime also ok, I didn't even bother to answer! *evil laugh*

Car

2008-05-19T15:50:00.020+08:00

I am not a real car fanatic. I am not able to explain the mechanics in details like those horse power shit or 6 pistons engine vs whatever else. I am a engineer but I am not into engines...maybe because I am a Leo?

I won't get my hands dirty doing all those mods on the car also.

My only mod attempt with a vehicle was on my retired Aprilia RS125 Racer . This Italian bike was considered as a bad boy or high end Ah Beng racing bike back in its glory days. It was made famous by Valentino Rossi. He is a multiple times world champion riding the Aprilia in 125cc and 250cc. I can still remember the huge admiration I have on the stack up twin exhaust of the 250cc.

So, what I did to my RS125? I jack up the back seat with a modified single suspension, bored up the fuel intake in the engine block, remove the filter in the air box, removed the original and installed a racer's Arrow exhaust pipe. The result was a devilish and loud silver cat.

My old bike at workshop...few months prior to selling it away. COE expiring soon back then, probably should have extent for another 10years. Spent 10k on it.

My Aprilia left me many good memories and a few scary ones. I only have one minor accident riding it (with bruised wrist), when I banged into the vehicle at the cross junction. I do have a few close calls when I almost lose balance when I e-brake (the high suspension and hence gravity contributed partially to it).

My top speed with the bike is 150km/h, not ultra fast but I did it on Singapore Expressway. Heh, those were the crazy "young punk" days...and spending whole night polishing every metal part of the bike at void deck with AUTOSOL with my friends.

Although I am not a car fanatic but I do have my own preference. My taste for car is a reflection of my Aprilia : Badass looking, especially those big badass muscle car.

Look at these cars, they are not only visually intimidating but the engines also packs alot of punch. MUSCLES! I prefer these American cars over those more "posh" automobiles like the Subaru Impreza and Honda Integra.

A Ford Mustang...what a name for a badass car!

Dodge Charger, cool colours, lots of attitude.

Vintage Charger. What a beauty and nice shape! I want it!

SUV is always my type of car that I I think it represent my attitude towards life in a bold way. I am not a luxurious sedan fan and MPV gives me a good family man feels....yeah, I don't like to be labelled as a "good" family man....I prefer people to call me a good "wild" family man.

Okay, I know I drive a Vios now, but that's for economical reasons: Money not enough ah! Heck, I will be driving a V6 Ford Explorer soon in Egypt if everything go smooth. Pray hard and dun pray pray.

I always wanted a 7-seater SUV (I like BIG badass, remember?). In the current market, my favourite of all is Toyota Fortuner:

Drools.....A Fortuner, a nice facelift to Hylux truck

...and the Ultimate badass SUV: HUMMER. Not very practical unless it's for showing off:

Commercialised US military truck... HUMMER H2 SUV

Did I just tell you I am crazy over SUV? I even have a price list I made myself to keep track of the price and fuel consumption of various model available in Singapore now:

I just found out today that Daihatsu has launched a 7-seater Terios! At S$67,000 only! It is equipped with a 1.5liter engine, so it will not have as much power as desired for a SUV, but it is still pretty attractive for it's build and seating capacity. Anyway, who want a power car in the ever populated roads in Singapore? *Sour Grapes*

It is truely a very budgeted SUV with very affordable price. Pictures shown below are the Terios sister car, 7-Seater Toyota Rush. Pretty much everything is the same including the body and engine. However Toyota demands a higher price tag due to it's branding.

I hope they can upgrade the engine to 1.8liter....and definitely it's now on top of my SUV hunting list!

-VINcE

OH no!!! Rocky ate my 七仔

2008-05-17T18:29:00.007+08:00

I know Rocky very glutton, but it is very rare that he will want to swallow a small soft toy.

七仔 in Rocky's mouth!!!!

Rescue of 七仔 from Rocky's mouth!!!

POOR 七仔!!!, I quickly bathed him!!

This is a present from my Godsister but he is almost eaten by Rocky.

My trip to Taiwan part 14 (8th-May-2008)

2008-05-17T18:01:00.006+08:00

Today is my last day of my trip, I might not have been to many countries. Nothing can compare to Taiwan。 Every time, I leave I will cry, because I can't bear to leave. I remember Jackl told me this, 宜蘭﹐ 好山好水﹐ 好無聊。But I dun think so, it should be 宜蘭﹐ 好山好水,好風景好優美。

Yilan have so many things, you want hot spring it have, cold spring it have also. It is surrounded by mountains and ocean, how can it be boring? Compare to Singapore or even Malaysia it is so much better.

Leaving my hometown... dun know when I will come back...but definitely not 12 yrs later.

Morning my mummy and Godmum is very busy giving away our wedding禮餅。

This is very tasty, It have 3 types of fillings, porkfloss, mua chee and either yam or red bean paste. Yummy!!!

It should be 宜蘭﹐ 好山好水,好風景好優美好多東西吃!!!!!

Andy last photo with my 大哥second son:

My Trip to Taiwan Part 13 (7th-May-2008)

2008-05-17T02:13:00.035+08:00

Today we wake up early getting ready to go to Taipei, 1st stop is 龍山寺 and 九份 by ourselves. But二哥 insisted to send us there, he purposely take leave to bring us around. He is respected my mummy a lot, and he feel that he have the duty to bring us around. This shows my mummy is very well-like among all my relatives.

Andy is very happy to go out with us:

Daddy ask Andy to look cool:

This is my 二哥:
this photo is not clear, taken by Andy.

He is very good at cracking jokes, his jokes are very deep.

And is the lady that wake up every morning 5-6am to prepare breakfast for the whole family, my 大舅母:

This is not clear also taken by Andy.

But before we go Taipei, 二哥 bring us to buy 宜蘭茗產 - 蜜餞 at 冬山鄉, we go there because mummy wanted to buy and here is cheaper and better, even thought need to travel a bit far, but it is worth it as I had an Ice-cream that I really loved.
Ice-cream po piah with honey peanuts candy. I first time ate it and loved it very much.

I saw this biscuits look very much like BB's Malaysia hometown biscuits, in fact the ingredients is the same.

Ice-cream:

You see the big honey peanut candy, there is an tool to shave off the candy. That tool actual us is to smoothen wood surface, but they use it to shave off the candy. Very clever.

After the shave , pour the candy "Dust" on to the Po piah skin then add ice-cream, you can add some veggie, like cucumber. It taste really good.

My First bite:

For me Ice-cream is not enough, I must have 台灣香腸, even though it is not as good as ours home make one, but it is definitely better than those sold in Singapore night market or supermarket.

香腸!香腸!香腸!香腸!

Ok after this lunchtime!!! We have duck for lunch and shark fish for lunch. Good!!! After this need to send my godmother to work. Then we are off to Taipei's 龍山寺。http://www.lungshan.org.tw/

Since 1738 the temple is built,

龍山寺寺內主祀觀音菩薩，並祀奉媽祖，四海龍王、十八羅漢、城堭爺、註生娘娘、山神、土地公等，為典型神佛合一之寺廟。龍山寺建於乾隆三年，五後年落成，以坐北朝南，分前、後及左右護龍圍繞中殿而成，前殿有銅鑄龍柱乙對，中殿龍柱四對，雕工精細；木雕亦甚精緻巧妙，尤以正殿內藻井及神龕最為出色。

A lot of Japanese tour groups comes to this temple, to pray.

I waited for 20mins to get the shot below, there are so many people I wanted to wait until no one so I can take a clear shot, but damn there is till one person @#$#$%^$^%&, never mind la. It is Wednesday, weekday and there are so many people!!

I know you will like this water feature, very peaceful.

The temple:

The decorations:

I dun know if I tell you before, I dun like the temples in Singapore or Malaysia. Their roof decorations or the temple decoration is very lousy, they just can't bring out the temple feeling.

The main hall is close for visitors, only open during prayers.

Our main objective:

They said this 月老 is very accurate, so must try.

And this 註生娘娘, should be translated to Goddess of Birth, is very accurate also, just look at the flowers the parents give.

Andy looking cool:

Andy caught on camera trying to mimic daddy walking:
On our way to 九份.

九份隸屬台北縣瑞芳鎮，相傳在陸路尚未開通之時，一切物資供給仰賴海路進行，由於村落中只有九戶人家，故對外採買時皆要求備妥「九份」，久而久之，人們便以此命名。九份之發展過程可謂一段先民採金史，隨採金人潮的湧入而繁華，又隨採金事業的沒落而褪色。約略西元1890年左右，居民在福山宮土地祠距小金瓜不遠處掘到金脈，這使得原本只有九戶人家的貧窮村落，頓時聚集了三、四千戶的淘金人口，此為九份的第一次繁華。

http://www.9sale.org/aboutus.php

Out of Taipei:

I can see Taipei 101!!!

The road to 九份:

Andy is very sleepy!!
But still want to act cool:

We reached:

The road to 九份, this is taken from website not by me lah.. I wish i have such good skills..

You can see 龜山島 from here!!!

The old streets of 九份:

We are very hungry, so 二哥 said try their famous 紅糟肉圓:

This 紅糟fishball.
I first time ate this 紅糟肉圓 and fishball, make me notice one thing Singapore or even Malaysia is not a food heaven at all. We are so fixed with our food choices, we dare not to be different, we dare not to try new things and be creative. Look at Taiwan, not that I'm trying to brag but really they have many different types of foods and they dare to be different, they dare to try.

Such a wonderful trip, it may be short but at least I'm here before so next time I can come again, if not for my 二哥, I don't think we can travel to all these places in one day. Really appreciate his efforts. At home, my sisters are waiting for us, they are there to bid us farewell.

Kids just bathed and playing on the masterbedroom's bed!!!

The gal standing at the dressing table is 二哥和二嫂的大女兒that is Andy's sister. The guy in the picture is my 大哥和大嫂的二儿子。12yrs ago, they are still small kids like Andy and Yiming, now they are all teenagers.

Yiming's thoughts "I bathed, yeah I'm a good boy"

Yiming's thoughts "Mummy why you ask me to pose like this????, Is it really more handsome??"

Ok after this short gathering, meimei, Weizi and me, we going to go for溫泉 , while my parents and my god mother go look for their old friends to chichat.

http://www.chuang-tang.com.tw/
you can go to the website and see all their spa services, cheap and good.

There are so many types of , lavender, 壇香﹐中藥﹐sake, coffee etc. I tired all, in the end I fall sick till now :( ........ my advice dun stay in the cold room too long.

My Trip to Taiwan Part 12 (6th-May-2008)

2008-05-17T01:26:00.003+08:00

As usual wake early and have homemade breakfast at home, go relatives visiting. Well that is for mummy. Me and sister wake up late today, didn't go with mummy. I waked up finished breakfast and go back to the room and study.

Around 10am or so, mummy come back. We need to go out for lunch, my 3rd auntie want to treat us, so she ask my big auntie, my godparents family.

The only picture I told that day.

haha they are so evil, bully this poor Andy....

My Trip to Taiwan Part 11 (5th-May-2008)

2008-05-16T01:45:00.020+08:00

Oh my today it is very cold in Taiwan, around 17 degrees. Good thing have my fav food, 飯團。Yummy!!! Well you need to use Japanese rice to make it, then inside you can put all your fav. food in it Once that is done, roll it into a ball or any shape. My godfather know we like this, so he bought this for us for breakfast

Here is my 1st bite:
There is the salted veg, fried dough.
My 2nd bite:
Oh I bite the egg and pork floss and chai po.

My 3d Bite:
Yummy this is really Delicious!!! I remember I make it once for BB but he dun like because he dun like cold dish. But this is a hot dish, so maybe I will make hot one for you ok??

Ok we are off to Taipei to visit 表舅, as usual we will go to礁溪 to take Taipei. So while waiting for bus, meimei and I take photos:

Lady in Green:

Lady in Green trying to act 酷:

A very sleepy and coughing Gal:

2 boring gals trying to look fat:

2 boring gals trying to look cute:

We reached Taipei 101 but 表舅 want us to go over to Taipei WTC. So we stood there and wait. But apparently we waited at the wrong place. Actually, Taipei WTC is very big, we waited at the wrong gate. Luckily, he managed to find us. So once he found us we go to have lunch, at a Japanese Tepanyaki. The food is really good, especially the beef is best. next we are there I will bring you there and eat.

So after lunch we visited 表舅's new factory, and saw my 表妹﹐ Yiling and Yijun. Then after visited the factory, we go back to his home.

This is Yijun and Mei mei:

Both of them are very close, they have alot to talk about.

Beside visiting them, our main objective is to see the main attraction of their family: Their new family member, Lin Yixiang:

He is 表哥's son, but this trip we are not able to see his wife. Maybe next time lah.

They also have a new machine that help the body's blood with better circulation, but there is a very strong electrical current. No one must touch the person doing the treatment, both of them will be shock. Mummy and me got shock!! So painful. After the shock, there is still electricity in my body. I can give shock to ppl. But the person doing the treatment, will not fell anything.

表舅with his (now) precious:

He used to be 表舅 precious:
寶弟, Taiwan pure local breed:

He is a very good dog, every morning he will go climb hill with 表舅 and go office with him. And he will wait under 表舅's table and act as his legs cushion until 表舅 finish work.

Let us meet the father and son (they look so alike):

Soon we have to go home, so 表哥 and Yijun wanted to send us back to 頭城, but first we need to go to 台北火车站 to pick someone up, Marco. He wanted come and spend more time we us. We very appreciate what he have done, so troublesome for him to come back and forth.

Once we reached 頭城, meimei and I decided to treat Marco. Because he have not eaten dinner yet.
href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_3ANfaT68T4Y/SCyB_AcbH7I/AAAAAAAABM4/_kVdwywkI7o/s1600-h/IMG_0195.jpg">

My god siblings bought mother's day cake for my god mother. So we have dessert.

The following pictures are taken by Marco:

One of my fav picture:
taken by Marco, it look a bit eerie:

My Taiwan Trip 10 (4rd-may-2008)

2008-05-15T14:49:00.031+08:00

Ok today Jackl decided to bring us to 宜兰设治纪念馆﹐ http://www.lanyangnet.com.tw/ilpoint/il02/
哈哈 I have new model to polish my photo taking skills presenting Wei Zhi, Jackl:

At the entrance, my two sister:
This museum is in a very traditional Japanese house with a very big garden.

below is one of my fav pic:

My godsister, Wei Xin, and godbrother, Wei Zhi, Jackl:

My mei mei and god brother:

Group photos: look how my godsister and godbrother look alike and they have a trademark smile:

Then after this we going to 宜蘭孔廟,

宜蘭孔廟，始倡建於一八六八年，開蘭進士楊士芳同治七年新科及第，載譽返鄉，為倡導文風，獎掖後進，登高號召鄉紳富商，有錢出錢，有力出力，共同興建，歷時十年，完工落成，促使地方教育勃興，蘭陽學子勤奮思學，登龍有術。

一八七五年（光緒元年），噶瑪蘭廳改制為宜蘭縣，縣設儒學，更增強讀書風氣。宜蘭孔廟的建築形式被學者譽為「全臺最美的大成殿」，歇山重檐式的檐線弧度十分優美，整體建築宏偉高聳，可惜於二次大戰末期，因戰火摧損而拆毀，原址在今宜蘭市新民路中央市場，僅餘康樂街的一堵矮牆而已。

臺灣光復後，於北門外按原有大成殿規模予以重建，廟內仍有泮池、東西廡等建設，立於光緒七年的「臥碑」，乃清廷禮部刊佈，用來曉諭生員，讀書在於明禮，福國先於利民的仕人思想規條。

孔廟祭典皆在春秋兩季，尤其九月二十八日孔子誕辰，六佾舞于庭，學子爭拔智慧毛，為全年中最熱鬧時節。孔子為平民教育之倡導者，其有教無類精神，表現於建築上，乃以屋脊之梟鳥浮雕為代表；而楹柱、門樓皆未刻寫文字，則意謂孔子為思想巨擘，後人不敢賣弄也

This is the musical instruments for 孔子birthday or during Teacher day:

After our trip to 宜蘭﹐we need to go home, most of my relatives are coming for dinner and I meet a new family member: Huang Yiming very cute boy!!!

My trip to taiwan part 9 (3-may-08)

2008-05-14T15:47:00.045+08:00

Today we are going to 宜蘭傳統藝術中心﹐ http://www.ncfta.gov.tw/

Most of the time we are taking photos.

2 beauties and a "beast" Muhahaha

Hmm this pose remind me of someone:

Pink pantner

Me with big brush!!

one of my fav pic

Andy looking Sad

Andy looking very yellow!!

Me and my Bro Marco

My mei mei and me

My mei mei and Marco

Since Andy is so upset, we decided to throw him in the pond to cool him off and make him happy:
Hey it really work, look how happy he is. :P

Well time to show off my photo skill with my new model: Marco
But I think they still prefer to take funny pictures:

Hmm Andy's expression is very funny

Me and Andy with an old well pump, this is how we collect water in the older days.
Just now is Pink Panther now is Pink Pig
Four little pigs

Mei mei and and old house:

We take a boat trip to the sports garden nearby:

Andy look a bit piss, reason he is want to drive the boat, but too bad he can't.
The view of the big bridge, I was here 12yr ago to see my second god brother perform, if i didn't remember wrongly his english is Jackl or chinese name is Wei Zhi. But that was 12yrs ago.
While we are docking, we are able to see a few Dragon boats, there are a few team preparing for the coming competition. Every year dragon boat festival, Taiwan will held the Dragon boat competition here.

To end the trip here, here is a photos of my two mothers.

So we decided to go back home to my Godparents' house, they want to sing Karaoke. So my brothers, Jackl and Marco decided to bring us back 烏石港 to see people Windsurfing.

3 lonely young adults

Marco is very tempted to go, but I stopped him because my god-mother said he can't and his girlfriend dun like. So I'm his sister so my control him. Over here at烏石港 there is a lot of small shops to rent out boards, sand motorbikes, bolly and chairs, some even offer rooms for rental and of course they sell swim suits.

Soon nightfall arrive after dinner, we will have to go over to 礁溪 to pick my god sister, wei xin. I can't wait to see my god sister, she is very pretty and cute gal studying in Tai chung. I have not seen her for 12 yrs. So later we will pick her up at 礁溪 and we will go there and soak legs in the hot spring. (free)

After the hot spring, we sent our parents home and all of us go to宜蘭夜市to eat and shop!!!
First stop we have the 臭豆腐 and 豆花!! yummy!!
Presenting my god sister, Wei Xin:

And BB I love this Ice Cream!! Very tall so nice!!!

My Trip to Taiwan Part 8 (2-May-2008)

2008-05-14T13:53:00.025+08:00

Now we are on the way to take a train to 松山. We need to take a train at 台北火车站.

This is the area to buy tickets, they have automated machines, or they have e-link card as well.

They are having renovation. It had been different since the 12 years ago.

The signboard will tell you rough when the train will arrive and how long it will be delay.

We chose the區間車 it is the cheapest. Anywhere it is only one station away. :P

haha!!

Here Come the train!!

Inside of the 區間車

Ok we reach!!! 松山!!!

五分埔 here we come!!!!!
It is a shopping paradise for all people. The clothes is very stylish and fashionable, it have all the latest trend from Japan, Korea or US!!!
And it is cheap, so are NT100 to NT199. If you see something you really like but not on promotion, you can ask for discount!!! Thailand have Chatuchak, Taiwan have 五分埔.

Of course shopping is very tiring, so I go buy drinks for everyone!! And I noticed something maybe you never seen before, white color bitterground!!!

I noticed that Taiwan acceptance for pets is very good, all pets is accepted in all most anywhere from restaurants to 五分埔. You can see doggie or kitty to take care of the shops or motorbikes.

BB the cuttlefish is very cute!!

We need to leave 五分埔 now, but there are still alot of shops, I still have not go!!! So next time I must come again!! I will shop from 11am to 12midnight the time they close!!

But never mind our next stop is 台北地下街!!!

Daddy is very tired so at least there is someone to entertain him.

After shopping, it is time to go home!! So we need to take the train back. This is the ticket.

1hr and 30mins later we will reach my home! Finally we have reached!!

When I reached my godmother home, I found someone that I have not seen for 12 years!! So happy to see him, BB dun be jealous he is my brother, Marco, wei cheng. We chatted till 12midnight or so, but it is really nice to see him and talk to him.

I think I fat

2008-05-13T20:46:00.002+08:00

...really.

I took a few photo of myself and to my horror I look fat lah!

Tomorrow I must start running liao.

Nothing much to report lately, life is eat sleep work and recyle..

I bought a chicken yesterday, pretend to be like a expert and chop the chicken. I counted the number of pieces after I finish chopping:

2 tighs
2 uppper tigh
1 neck (the most yummy portion!)
2 wings
2 breast meat
4 ribs meat
1 pipi (Not eating this....I only eat those fried one at pasar malam)

Today gonna drink chicken soap for whole day.

-VINcE

My Trip to Taiwan Part 7 (2-May-2008)

2008-05-13T13:37:00.008+08:00

Oh no, we are suppose to wake up around 8am. But all of us over slept till 10am. So mummy quickly wake us up. So within 1hr all of us is prepared and ready to go. We check out the room and leave our bags with the hotel.

1st stop, we need to fill our stomach with breakfast. We have a very simple breakfast of Chinese dumpling. Then I quickly to get books for Elaine and Ah sing. Once this is done. We are off to 五分鋪. Along the way I noticed something my bb used to make.

BB this photo is not clear, but they used the same method, stick the dough on the wall of urn to bake.

No wonder it is also call: 福州

I bought 2 one is NT45

This is very popular is Taiwan. I need to queue to get only 2.

Tada..... the Taiwan version of 福州餅

My first bite - very crispy and smell very good, with pepper smell, pork smell.

Now take a look at the inside of it, the filling is so big and taste very nice, in fact alot of taipei people buy 2 and have it for their lunch. 1 for me is more than enough. No wonder mummy said Taiwan's taste better, I have to agree, this doesn't make me feel yucky. Why I feel yucky is because, Malaysia's have lard in it and it is not very healthy. But Taiwan is very it uses meat with a bit of lard, pepper and spring onion, and onion to make it more tasty and most important it have 五香粉。So the taste is better.

My Trip to Taiwan Part 6 (1-May-2008)

2008-05-13T00:13:00.010+08:00

We spent most of the time Shopping in 淡水. We bought alot of stockings, haha dun know why also. But the bags are very Cheap only NT199, only less than $10 for all size of bag. Very Worth it. But we dun want to buy anything other than Stocking and socks and a CD my mummy bought for you.

Look so many good food that we can't find in Singapore:

Then we go for their famous ªüµ¹¡G¦WºÙ¨Ó¦Û¤é»yªºªo¨§»G¡A¬O¥Î¥|¤è§Îªo¨§»G¡A«õ¥h¤¤¶¡ªº¨§

»G¡A¶ñ¶iª£¹Lªº¯»µ·¡A¥Î³½¼ß«Ê¤f»]¼ô。

The famous ªüµ¹

The inside of ªüµ¹

Taiwan 福州魚園

Ok after the food we will have to go back to Taipei and look for hotel. When we reached Taipei, we found the hotel very fast, because Mummy stayed there before. A 4 person bedroom with 2 king size beds, no breakfast, cable TV, coffee and tea and bathtub, cost NT2180. Consider very cheap in this area, I had checked around the area at least NT4000 and above. Daddy is very tried so he and mummy sleep in the hotel for a while.

Then Me and mei mei decided to go shopping around the area. I wanted to find the 24 hours bookshop, but the bookshops around the area all closed very early. So need to go and look for them tomorrow. So we decided to go the the 7-11 opposite the hotel to buy some supper for Daddy and Mummy. I bought mummy fav. pudding.

Then Daddy complained he is very hungry want to eat supper. So Mummy brought us to 華西街夜市以小吃為主，從山產到海產一應具全，並有腳底按摩等休閒業。又因靠近早期尋芳客密集地寶斗里因此夜市出現了許多以去毒壯陽為號招的蛇店及鱉店，形成當地小吃的特色，華西街上大約有兩至三家，入夜後便會有殺蛇或是鬥蛇等的表演，每每引起好奇民眾圍觀，十分熱鬧，店中並有蛇鞭蛇酒供顧客點食,不過限於環保現在保育類的蛇類並不在此販售。至於其他類商品的店家，也時常有特賣或拍賣活動，叫賣聲此起彼落，充分表現出台灣人民的熱情與生命力。

This is taken at around 12.30am.

Our supper:

大腸面線

臭豆腐

Then after this Daddy have a second round of supper, his fav 鹵豬腳 with rice and fresh sashimi. When he finished all this, then he is willing to go back to hotel and rest.

My trip to Taiwan part 5 (1 May 2008)

2008-05-12T14:15:00.005+08:00

OK after seeing the 廟會. We rushed to the train station to catch the train to Taipei. But too bad there is no train going down. So in the end we decided to take a cab cost around NT200 to 礁溪 to take a express bus to Taipei, which will only take 45 from 礁溪 to Taipei and it cost NT95.

This is the the train ticket vending machine.

礁溪位于宜兰市北方约7公里处，是东部著名的温泉乡，整个乡镇的发展与衰落都与温泉有着密不可分的关系。

据称，早期先民见此地溪谷终年砂石堆积，故取名礁溪，“礁”就是闽南音“干涸”的意思；后来，又在这一带发现地底涌冒出温泉，所以也称此地为“汤围”或“汤仔城”。礁溪之所以会有温泉，主要因为当地地下水源丰沛而且还有地热资源，这里的温泉水质清澈透明，属无色无味的碳酸质矿泉，水温介于摄氏50~60度，具治疗皮肤病及慢性胃病的理疗功效，温泉泉眼则位于福崇寺附近，以礁溪警察分局为中心的附近地区，是礁溪温泉的精华地带，德阳路、中正路上四处可见温泉旅馆和澡堂林立，一幅典型的温泉乡景象。游客到礁溪享受温泉浴，除了选择一般温泉旅馆外，还可到烧水沟上的“公沟”或者礁溪公园后方的“玉石澡堂”享受温泉泡澡的滋味。礁溪温泉除了洗浴之外，温泉产业所推广的温泉米、温泉花卉、温泉蔬菜，知名度也在这几年大为提高。9号省道礁溪一带，沿途见到贩售大把大把的温泉空心菜，茎粗叶大白梗品种的空心菜，大火快炒，滋味特别香。

After that short introduction, now it is time to show you the main street of 礁溪,

Over here every 2m there will be a spa hot spring hotel, but they are all not cheap.

The bus schedule to go Taipei.

Finally we reached, the bus will send us straight to Taipei 101. The world tallest building for now.

Wow this is really tall.

We must take photos proof that we are here.

Look at how tall it is:

The Inside of 101.

I'm trying to copy Erwin's photo taking style:

We decided to window shopping in 101, because the things in 101 is very expensive. But one 101 have a lot of branded shops. I'm very impressed.

The next place on our itinerary is 淡水.
淡水鎮位於台北縣西北沿海處、淡水河出海口，東經121.26度，北緯25.1度，北與三芝鄉為鄰、南接台北市北投區、西濱台灣海峽、西南隔著淡水河與八里鄉遙遙相望，總面積位為70.6565平方公里；淡水鎮特殊的地理環境讓淡水擁有風光美麗的山水景色，自古即為台灣八景之一，並有『東方威尼斯』的美名，昔日更是台灣第一大港，西方文明也是由此散播至台灣北部各地.

So we took the free shuttle bus to the city hall MRT to travel to 淡水. Let me show you they MRT "ticket"

Yes this is their "ticket" it is a token!! You just need to scan the token and you can get in. Cool...

This is their MRT.

BB, honestly been to Thailand's MRT and Taiwan's MRT and Singapore MRT. Singapore is the worst. The people never queue to get on the train. The people never give way for the off Boarding people. Over here is Taiwan be it the MRT or Train. The people will always give way to the off boarding people just like Thailand. Singaporean is really low class and should think about their behavior.

My trip to Taiwan part 4 (1 May 2008)

2008-05-12T13:37:00.011+08:00

Today we decided to go to Taipei. Yeah!!! Before we go Taipei, mummy bring us to see 廟會。In chinese it is call:
「大神（身）尪」(註1)對大部分的人來說是一個相當陌生的名詞，最簡單地解釋，就是廟會活動常見的七爺、八爺。當然，廟會中通常並不只有七爺、八爺，尚可見到與祂們形式相仿的神祇，如千里眼、順風耳，或是三太子、土地公等等。在宜蘭地區，人們習慣將此類身形巨大，以木刻、竹籐編、刺繡等傳統工藝技法合組而成，出巡遶境時由人鑽入其中空身軀內代為行走的陣頭形式統稱為「大神（身）尪」。

　　蘭陽平原是台灣北部神明遶境活動以大神（身）尪為主要參與陣頭的重要地區（註2），此一陣頭文化形成的年代，約可回溯到清朝末年，因為城隍廟的設立而有部屬神陪祀需求，信徒便從大陸地區購入七爺、八爺隨祀於城隍爺左右，出巡時則以護衛身份行走於神轎前方，負有開道、掃除邪祟之責。至日治大正年間因為廟宇祭典的興盛，大神（身）尪數量有增多的趨勢，而由於當時蘭陽地區主要的神誕祭典，為城隍爺、東嶽大帝出巡遶境活動，因此所增加的人物多為民間傳說故事中的陰間官吏，如左右排爺、文武判官等。

　　此時，尚出現較為特殊、至今仍僅存在於宜蘭地區，即以傳說中城隍爺與東嶽大帝所生的兒女裝扮出少爺、太子等大神（身）尪。光復後，大神（身）尪的數量仍持續增加，但已不限於城隍或東嶽廟，部分北管子弟團及廟宇亦開始組裝各式神祇，如門神（秦瓊、尉遲恭），使得大神（身）尪的類型更加擴展。民國60年代，甚至出現了第一個由女性籌組而成的女神（身）尪會，迄今，宜蘭地區已有多尊女神（身）尪，亦僅招收女性會員（註3）。

猶如前面所說，蘭陽地區自清末以來所發展的廟會文化就是以「大神（身）尪」為主軸，如以大神（身）尪的故鄉自詡的頭城來說，鎮內光是城隍與東嶽廟轄下的大神（身）尪即多達24個尪仔會40尊大神（身）尪。於是，若是詢問頭城人對廟會的印象，大多會回答「大神（身）尪」。站在廟會的現場，還能驚訝的發現，許多年僅八、九歲的小孩，看著迎面走來的大神（身）尪，甚至能夠逐一叫出名字。因為，對許多頭城人來說，每年廟會看大神（身）尪也是生活的一部份。然而，與台灣其他地方一樣，傳統祭典受到了西化、現代化的影響已趨向式微，祭典雖因信仰仍存在，但其規模與參與的人力已大幅縮減。以頭城為例，早年每一個尪仔會多達四、五十名會員的榮景已不復見，現在每個尪仔會至多一、二十人，亦有不到五名會員或早已解散的情況。

　　基於憂心頭城在地文化的消逝，近幾年來以城北社區為首的居民多致力於保存以東嶽廟神誕祭典為核心所發展而來的「大神（身）尪文化」，一方面嘗試找尋優秀匠師修復破損情形嚴重的尪首，另一方面藉由各式活動的舉辦，如耆老講座、參與宜蘭社區大學頭城分班揭牌儀式、配合宜蘭童玩節邀請國外團隊至頭城體驗大神（身）尪文化等等，試圖以新的形式展現地方特有的大神（身）尪文化，亦獲得當地居民的迴響與支持。

當然，社區也意識到，光以新的、現代的活動形式來提升民眾對大神（身）尪的認識是相當零碎且片段的，無法讓社會大眾真正瞭解大神（身）尪文化整體面貌。因此，現階段對社區來說，重新思考並找出一個能夠在現代社會中持續傳承在地祭典文化的方式，才是使頭城在未來不會僅存大神（身）尪的形體供後世憑弔，而是繼續保有一個活生生的文化脈絡，才能讓頭城的後世子孫持續擁有與父祖輩相同的生活記憶，也才有機會讓更多人體驗與感受大神（身）尪故鄉所特有的文化魅力。

註1：台灣各地對「大身尪」有眾多稱呼，如「大仙尪」、「大神尪」、「神將」、「將爺」等，過去宜蘭頭城多使用「大神尪」一詞，強調其文化內涵與其他地區以將軍、護將身份之「神將」之區隔。近來在研究中發現過去以台語來稱呼此一對象之意義應是指身形巨大的人物，非特指其為神仙，故又出現「大身尪」一詞，為尊重在地語彙，本文中兩詞並用。

註2：「大神（身）尪」是台灣相當普遍的陣頭，各地皆有，其中以參與桃園大溪普濟堂關勝帝君祭典、臺北蘆洲湧蓮寺觀音菩薩祭典及宜蘭縣內各神明遶境祭典之數量最為龐大。

註3：近年，台灣其他地方雖亦有組裝女神（身）尪，但皆由男性負責扛抬

Pole dancing truck, the singer will be dress in very skimpy and see through dress and they will sing and do pole dancing.

My taiwan trip Part 3 (30-arp-2008)

2008-05-11T13:08:00.011+08:00

Stayin at any of relatives house, No one is suppose to sleep till 9am. All must wake up latest by 8am. To have breadfast and if you wake up late you are consider very rude. So no matter how late you sleep last night you must wake up at 8am to have breakfast. So my dear, if you are there you have to wake up early. Dun be like me!!!

Breakfast will be ready by 6am.

Ok!!! Off we go to to walk around the town!!!
First stop: we got to Watson in Taiwan it is call 屈臣氏.

Wow it is really have all sort of things that you can't find in Singapore's watson. It have all the best beauty products from japan and korea. Or health product you can't find in singapore.

All the Watson in taiwan is at least 2 times bigger that singapore's watson. The Watson in 頭城 is 2 storey. So many things to shop. We spent 2 hours there shopping for beauty products. Muhahaha.

After the visited to the Watson, Meimei wanted to have a prepaid line in Taiwan, we we when to the 7-11 to ge the pre paid card. It is so troublesome. A person applying the line need to have 2 type of indentification to prove that you are the person then they will give you the card. Mah fan!!

Haha the 7-11 also have lok lok!!

.

Finally finished my sister's things. Time really passed very fast, it is time for lunch. Mummy said she know a very good japanese food. So she bring us there, and we pass the train station.

The japanese restaurant is very near the train station and near my 3rd sister clothing shop and my 2nd sister-in-law hair salon and near my God mother house.

The Japanese restaurant.

The first dish sushi!!

After the scrumptious lunch, we are on our way to visit my god parents. At around 1pm, mummy's dentist will come and bring her to do her teeth.

This is the driveway to my god-parents home.

This the dentist's dog - call lychee. The doll he is biting on is his pacifier. He need to bite it to sleep. Very cute!!!

After the visited the dentist, My god-father bring us to 烏石港。
烏石港，位於宜蘭縣頭城鎮東北方，距離頭城鎮市區，大約一公里，是舊有烏石商港遺址。名字的由來是因為港區裡的礁石呈黑色，所以居民便叫這個港口為烏口港。

舊時的烏石港是當時蘭陽第一大城，頭城的重要門戶，許多商賈由此出入，「石港春帆」即是形容當時船隻來往絡繹不絕的情景，更是蘭陽八景之一喔！不過，在光緒九年時，水域因為美國大型角板船觸礁沈沒而逐漸縮減，造成烏石港一度沒落。

民國八十年，烏石港列為第二期台灣漁港建設方案，開始建港，前後共投資近二十七億元的資金。預計民國九十四開港後，將成為頭城地區，最重要的觀光休閒漁港。除了港區碼頭的建設外，舊有的烏石港遺址，已規劃成為保育濕地，毗鄰的大片土地，也將在未來成立蘭陽博物館，烏石港紀念公園及遊客服務中心。

烏石港漁會大樓旁設有漁貨直銷中心，各式產品攤位琳瑯滿目，不怕找不到好吃的料理喔！中午就在此飽餐一頓吧！

烏石港遊客中心九十二年初落成。內部軟硬體設備陸續充實中，並於九十三年三月啟用，提供遊客旅遊賞鯨、登龜山島等咨詢服務，一樓為遊客登島、搭船櫃台服務區，二樓為龜山島意象人文簡介及多媒體放映室(放映室採預約登記服務制 )，中心內有委外經營咖啡館服務設施.

So next time we can go there and take their boat trip to view whales and dolphin and visit 龜山島. But first let enjoy the sceneries.

The opposite island is 龜山島.

Look how wide the beach is, on weekend there is alot of visitors to Windsurfing.

My fav picture

Poor puffer fishes

Finally a picture of me!!

my shoes. Muahahaha!!!

my Sister - Angel

After this we visited my big Aunty and uncle,

let me introduce: the one on the left is my god-mother (my mother sister), the centre is my mummy and the one on the right is my big aunty.

Okay let me introduce the macho men!! The one on the left is my Daddy. The centre is my god father and the one on the right is my Uncle.

After the visit my big aunty, we went to visit my 四舅。

Soon it is for dinner, so my mummy decided to cook at my god mother's place. Then
I discovered something very cute.

Look at the tomatoes they have sharp bottom.

As we about cook, my 大舅母 called and asked we all to go back and have dinner. So we go home lo...
That night I met a new family member:

This is 小魯. He is only 6 months old, he used to be a normal dog with normal eyes. But because he is very active, he like to run around and one day he accidentally bang his eye into something and the vet said need to dug out the eye. Poor thing. But that doesn't affect him. He is still active and happy, his fav game is to play fetch.

Soon the day end....

My taiwan trip Part 2 (30-arp-2008)

2008-05-11T12:42:00.008+08:00

We are staying with my二哥 house. this the the views from his service balcony.

View 1

.
View 2

I like the views very much I know you will if you are there.

Let me introduce to you my hometown:
頭城鎮 belong 宜蘭縣.
宜蘭縣位於台灣東北角，東面緊鄰浩瀚的太平洋，北面、南面、西面均由雪山山脈及中央山脈所阻隔，自古以來，就是一塊與外隔絕的夢中淨土。

宜蘭原名噶瑪蘭(又名蛤仔灘)，是先住民噶瑪蘭人的口音譯而來，自清代噶瑪蘭通判烏竹芳至宜蘭選定『蘭陽八景』後，後代漢人始將本地地名暱稱為蘭陽，而其平原為沖積扇平原，故宜蘭平原又稱蘭陽平原。

根據台灣考古學界的研究，宜蘭在三、四千年前，即有泰雅族在此建立聚落，泰雅民族為一父系社會民族，勇猛剽悍，漢人俗稱生番、野番或山番。而後，由東南亞渡海漂流而來的噶瑪蘭人，噶瑪蘭民族為母系社會民族，樂天憨厚，俗稱熟番、化番或土番。

宜蘭人生性純樸，以農漁為業，於耕種之餘尚已讀書與生活合而為一，因此蘭陽地區人才輩出，自古即有淡蘭文風冠全台之稱.

Map of Yilan (blue color is 頭城)

Map of 頭城

頭城東臨太平洋，擁有極長的海岸線，其海岸線之變化也極具多樣性，有『開蘭第一城』蘭陽門戶之稱，故在清代即扮演著重要的角色，是當時的商業重鎮，現存的和平街，即是最好的見證。
正因為頭城的海岸線甚長，所以其漁業資源也頗豐富，無論是海岸或是漁港，都令人心神嚮往，是個適合全家出遊的好地方.

My trip to Taiwan!! Part 1 (29 Arp 2008)

2008-05-11T11:13:00.003+08:00

I had never gone home for 12 years and it been quite a time that I travel with my dad.

My sis at the airport: "lady in red"

Dad fav. fast food BK!!!

Dad and mei mei!!

BB remember the Mac, we always had in Changi Airport now change to BK.

let me introduce: the small boy is call Andy Chuan aka Chuan yao Shen, he my 二哥youngest son.

Funny faces!!!

Andy playing with my hp, we are on the wait to 深坑

Introduce : 深坑

深坑位在於台北盆地的東南邊緣，四周山脈環繞，全境多為海拔300─500公尺的丘陵地。深坑因為位在河邊，中為低陷河谷平原的地形，地勢低窪，將此與地名做聯想，故如坑底而得名。早期的『深坑老街』長 200 多公尺，寬不及二米的泥土路，兩旁都是草厝。有一次街上廟會，燒紙錢時不慎引燃草厝，整條街付之一炬，後來重建時大都蓋成瓦屋，牆壁是用土角磚做的「土角厝」。 They are famous for the Tofu.

深坑豆腐
『深坑豆腐』是深坑地區聞名全臺的特產，深坑豆腐之所以受歡迎主要有二個原因
：一是製造的方法，使用一級豆孔，以木炭燃燒加溫製成，造就了深坑豆腐與眾不同的基礎；二是料理的方式，深坑老街小吃店共同的招牌菜便是紅燒豆腐。來到深坑老街，嚐嚐知名的各種豆腐料理，深坑的豆腐好吃，主要秘訣在於深坑不含鐵質的特殊水質，並遵循傳統「鹽滷法」釀製，在以木炭燃燒加溫，還帶有獨特的焦味，這是值得大家聞香下馬品嚐的原因.

二哥 brought us to 故鄉的口味 to have our dinner.

Their most popular dish is 麻辣臭豆腐.
.

Yummy yummy!!!!

I will bring you there next time!!!

Amusing reads

2008-05-08T15:21:00.002+08:00

I read STOMP for the first time few days ago. Looks like the average age of the readers is very young. I found some very idiotic comments but non the less I laugh my butt off after reading them. These siao gina....

Those comments are posted in Singapore Seen section. Stomper is refered to the reader of the website. This Singapore Seen section is created for readers/stomper to post any photo taken by them that amused them. They can post it here, view their opinion about the incident and let other readers comments about it.

Here's the first one, a photo taken by reader regarding illegal parking at HDB area. He said he complaint to the police about it but police told him 'Kanina, you got nothing better to report ah,you think police very free izit?". Actually the police told him it is not their responsibility and he should report this to the correct authority instead.....

Of course the responsibility part can be argued, but some of the readers decided to entertain the public with their comments:

Comments from reader 1:
"Aiyoh this stomper boh lumpar. Dare not talk directly to driver, instead want to report police. When police bochup, this stomper bang balls got to come STOMP to post picture. This is what 2.5 years of National Service has instilled in us! BOR LUM PAR!!! LOL!! "

....and the reply from reader 2
"how you know this stomper BOR LUM PAR? Maybe he is a chabor, so no LUMP PAR but got Tua NI NI "

*faint*

The other photo is gross but the reply simply more juicy lah! A commuter was caught on photo digging his nose on the public bus...and the reader post it to say it's very unhygienic.

Here's one of the reply:

"Unname stomper, why you dare to post but dare not reveal your name ? Anyway, he dig his nose, does it concern you ? Did he forced you to help him dig ? Did he forced his pee-sai down your throat ? Or you feel disgusted that he did not let you taste it ? "

I had a good day after reading those :p

-VINcE

Vince's Believe it or not!

2008-05-08T03:38:00.007+08:00

Egyptians Masterpiece

Electrical cable, phone cable, TV cable, coming from outside the wall all the way in. Fast mah, drill a hole at the concrete wall and job done.

More holes at the wall. The extra holes are meant for natural cold air in flow during winter....abo then? This one is wooden wall at bedroom. They use concrete wall at living room. Creative leh.

Electrical reading meter, inside the house..eh hem. I really don't know how they take the reading from outside and bill me every time.

Nice looking building beside Cairo main road.

Oh wait, take a closer look, the building are all naked. No finishing cement layer and no painting.....and people live in these building located next to the highway.

Every foreigner I met on first trip here never failed to take photo of this amazing sight, just so that they can show their friends back home of how unbelievable Cairo is. Me and Eve took the photo of the building during our first trip here also.

Some of the Cairene are so poor that they can't afford a house and have to live at the cemetary. Their cemetary is like a huts build on a small piece of land bought by their ancestor. So, basically they live, eat and sleep together with dead people.

Sometimes the security guard at the cemetary will make extra income by renting out those abandoned cemetary huts which no longer have surviving family member.

Not to mention the spooky apartment lift.

Welcome to Egypt, each time 3 persons only please, and don't waste your time looking for lift maintenance certification.

Remember, this is Egypt, where unbelievable happens everywhere and everyday.

-VINcE

猫猫之意

2008-05-08T03:23:00.002+08:00

今天去动物天堂找猫，想要一只。

哪怕再痛一次。

天堂，却怎都找不着？

扑了两个空。

彩虹天桥上的你，带我再爱一次好吗？

这家伙，好屌，敢跟我睡反调！

乌龟...

2008-05-06T04:20:00.005+08:00

....豆！在楼下妹妹哪里买的，好乖，会帮妈妈卖菜。

今天吃它！

因为太饿了，给我吃光光，所以忘了给煮熟了的乌龟拍照，
yum yum yum。。。超好吃！

没有你的日子里，老公越来越会炒，煎，熬，炸,
还会做鸡蛋面包，香香的咧。
chop chop...还是不要太夸，等下你来罢工我怎办？

你来，我帮你煮，
我切的蒜头爆得特别香，对不对？
还有我的独门肉骨茶。。。。哗塞，没得顶,！超赞啊！

。。。。。。。aiyo, 怎么这么快又失态了。。。
还是去睡比较好，肚子又叫了。

-VINcE

Strong Wind

2008-05-05T20:32:00.005+08:00

Or rather...dirt wind hit Maadi today. It lasted for about 2 minutes and I feel like a sand man after taking this video....dirt..dirt...dirty dirt! I hope I didn't forget to shut all the windows before I leave my apartment today.

趴地熊

2008-05-04T23:44:00.006+08:00

这几天做了趴地熊，懒东西。

这家伙，还真像我，我最喜欢跟它一样趴着睡

。。。。。但是我比它handsome一点。

黑泥啃喝了一瓶又一瓶。

不是不听老婆的话，上次喝的是500ml，这次是330ml而已。

真乖hor。

闷得有点发麻了，又有点挣扎。

有了老婆，再也不爱一个人出去逛街了。

我也变了。

或许QQ有在会好一点。

前晚，我把它的饲料盘给添满了。

也许它回来了一趟，我心理特别的宁静。

那晚，是第七晚。

-VINcE

杂想。。。

2008-04-30T05:10:00.013+08:00

今晚时间仿佛倒流了

van Gogh 1889 年的"满天星的夜晚"，在精神病院逝世前的遗作，终年37。他也叫Vincent，嘿。

天空仿佛把扭曲给凝固了，也把凝固给扭曲了，

然后在宁静中挣扎。

他在想什么。。。

也非常喜欢他的"半身天使"，棕色的头发，蓝色的天使，是忧郁的天使吗？

三十年前，三十年后，

你得到什么，又失去了什么？

之后，再一个五十年前，五十年后，你又会带走什么，留下什么？

你，想过吗？

有时我也忘了人生是什么，仅仅是到此一游？

120 年后，我看着樊谷的画像，他好像一直都在。是他疯了，还是世人疯了。

疯子画画，清醒的是谁？