e sisterhood @ SDU HQ on 4 Nov 07

(sorry, v outdated post)

lijun suggests holding bdae brunch at Brown Sugar for ting and e twins.

e place looks pretty in e website. but i din noe it's located in SDU's HQ, a diff place to go if u dont drive.

(no, we did noT go there to speed-date -_- )

we went for their sunday brunch. tink e place wld be even prettier at nite.

they let us brunch at their private function room (which is usually available oni if u spend >$1k) n tat room was marvellous.

beautifully decorated without losing e cosy feeling.

i like e way e table sorta elongated e photo. hehe~

food's here!

i ordered iced latte (abit bland) n crabmeat linguine in spicy tomato sauce (generous serving of authentic crabmeat n savoury sauce, a lil too spicy for me tho).

e ultimate bfast set was veri awesome n pancakes are alright too. price is alright too, not too pricey.

but seriously i wont keep gg back to brown sugar cuz its location is realli quite inaccessible for me.

service was highly commendable also, they gave e bdae girls a complimentary warm chocolate cake! oh and e cake was incredibly yummy!

happie bdae girls! love y'all lots!!~ *heart*

long wkend is here again!

yay!

gg cycling at ecp n underwater world tis wkend! woohoo~

life is great!~

muahahahaha~

it's christmas in 2007 !!~

run xmas party

kendrya's condo's spacious rec room, complete with plasma tv n pool table.

oh yeah n we catered food. costs $16/pax wor.

lionel's cookies, n lionel.

absolutely cant believe tat dude baked cookies. LoL~

e usual babes tat i'll take photos with during run outing. seriously standard. haha~

e bridge addicts will hafta play bridge to keep entertained, of cuz. hehe~

oh im v impressed by dor's learning speed. she picked up e whole bridge game w/in 30min, n became quite pro by e end of 1hr. *thumbs up*

bridge players n their spectators. yeah quite alot of spectators, machiam like watching football match sia. haha~

'merry xmas to us, merry xmas to us, merry xmas to run 3, merry xmas to us!'

grp photo! how many of us will survive in PwC till our 3rd xmas tog?? hmmm~

sisterhood xmas @ villa bali

jingling sourvenirs frm taiwan. thx kl kj!~

tis cambodian pony is in love with his fellow cambodian (albeit, an elephant). wahahaha~ dumb~

sisterhood congregation to celebrate xmas! love u all !!~ *muackz*

reserved indoor table cuz of rainy season, else villa bali is more renowned for its outdoor seats.

log cake frm awfully choc. thx lj n dor for buying!~

6 of us finished it all lorz, fattening sia~

i tink i ate 3 pieces, cuz we need to finish e whole cake. -_-

my happening xmas eve

dim sum @ dragon phoenix chinese restaurant, liang court level 6.

not bad, so my dad's reco is realli credible. haha~

30% off all dim sum for e whole of dec! pretty cheap. love e scallop rice roll.

my favourite xmas gift 2007! veri sweet handicraft-ed organiser personalised for qian. a million thx to my old man! hehe~

then went city hall area for some shopping, n got rudely slapped on my right butt cheek by a bastardly foreign worker frm myanmar! WTF~

a lady who also had her butt slapped caught him. n my old man became e xmas eve hero who 'detained' e lecher (by grabbing his wrist oni lahz) while waiting for police to arrive.

it realli did happened okay... police took my statement. tmr muz go buy 4D on my report no. hehz~

i hate foreign workers, i hate lechers, i hate men n their testosterones!! BAH~

anw, w/o letting tat knnccb spoil my xmas eve, i cont e nite with mj with e sistas.

we went to e famous jalan kayu prata shop for supper.

my cheese egg prata n ice teh cino. e prata was realli fantastic, n curry was thick. teh cino so-so nia tho. pricey but gd.

btw, we mj-ed frm 1230am to abt 830am (incl supper), n my net win/loss is zero. duhz~

ah gong's bdae party on xmas day

ok i realised i donno how old my ah gong is, but every yr he holds his bdae party on xmas day lorz. how festive eh. haha~

yes, tats how many kids there r. all my cousins lorz, im e most snr grandkid. bah~

happie bdae, ah gong!~

n tat sums up my xmas hols! new yr hols coming up! woohoo~

cost analysis - cambodia

for one pax (ie. qian),

air tickets (singapore - phnom penh) = SGD147
air tickets (siem reap - singapore) = SGD133
total air tickets = SGD280

hotel in phnom penh (new york hotel 3 nites) = SGD90
hotel in siem reap (angkor star hotel 2 nites) = SGD77
total hotel = SGD167

total air tickets & hotel = SGD447

USD spent there = USD300 * 1.45 = SGD435

Total spent for cambodia trip = SGD882

cheap anot? not realli horz... why huh? where did all e $$ go to?? *scratch head*

oh btw, 1 day pass to angkor wat is USD20 (SGD30). not cheap. bah~

e last bits of cambodia

our last dinner in cambodia was at cafe indochine (yeah seriously sounds like our indochine hor?), juz beside our hotel.

looks like a posh place horz? i tink shops in siem reap are generally more posh than those in phnom penh, more tourists mahz.

look at our romantic coconut for 2! LoL~ nice ambience~

right to left below: khmer chicken amok, some beef in cambodian style.

amok is okay but potentially gerlaat cuz of e thick milky gravy. n i concluded tat cambodian beef is juz not to my liking.

total bill: USD13 (SGD20) for 2 person.

then we went for some FABULOUS khmer foot massage (forgot to take photo -_- ), 1hr USD6 (SGD9).

after which we found tis gem by e roadside! pancake crepe (im impressed by its name)! it's like our prata w egg, but more crispy n plus condensed milk! woohoo~

me n yul simply love it! hot, crispy, n sweet! oni USD0.50 (SGD0.75)! *yums*

we patronised e stall on both our nites there lorz. n u noe how hard it is to forage for e same MOBILE roadside stall?

e nx day, we woke up at 5am to catch our 8am flight back to sg.

tats how small n empty e departure hall is at siem reap airport (check in counters to my left). there was oni 2 flights in e morn lorz.

their airport is single storey, so we had to literally walk TO e plane. it was an unusual experience. haha~

it's e 2nd time in my life tat im actually glad 2b on e plane back hm (1st time was china). usually i juz wanna stay in e foreign ctry longer.

to summarise wat i like abt cambodia:

- khmer foot massage

- cheap hotel

- cheap shopping

wat i donT like abt camb:

- TOO many touts

- TOO many ppl asked me for $$ in e most ridiculous sorta way

- expensive admissions (SGD30 for angkor wat n floating village EACH)

- veri veri dirty air n roads

- they dont speak much of my languages

- pressure selling (i've been forced to buy things, seriously)

spent SGD900 in total, for 5D5N. half on air tix n hotel n half on spending. quite abit to spend in a 3rd world ctry, i wld say.

me n yul did alotta stupid things there: lost USD20 worth of newly-bot shorts, bot a bottle of angkor beer with no bottle opener, boat ride wif 2 complete male cambodians, etc.

despite all these, it was an adventurous n eye-opening trip with great company yo~

temples of angkor

(u have no idea hw difficult it is to write tis post, painstaking efforts to match temples to their names -_- )

Temples of Angkor were built by e various kings of Angkor throughout e AC.800-1200, so it's not surprising to find sculptures n bldgs destroyed by weather/wars/tomb raiders.

Angkor Wat

the Temples of Angkor spans a vast area, Angkor Wat is just like e mother of e temples. 1st temple u'll pass by frm e main admissions entrance.

according to sissy, e whole idea of visiting e temples of angkor is to catch e view of angkor wat at sunrise/sunset.

me n yul did none of tat. e above is e closest we get, e morning sun shining on e outer wall of angkor wat. haha~

tis monk requested to take a photo with us at e entrance of e temple. he speaks rare gd eng.

veri idyllic place, and u can tell they realli put in effort to build e place. its layout is perfectly symmetrical, with pools on either side of e entrance to e temple.

i love its flawlessly proportional corridors.

lotsa bas reliefs on e walls (no photo tho -_- ), depicting religious epic events like The Churning of the Ocean of Milk. e bas reliefs muz have looked awesome during their heydays.

e largest religious monuments in e world, n truly e best preserved temple in angkor. least broken among all tat i've seen.

can u imagine e mind-blowing logistics of such a huge operation, esp given e lack of modern construction eqmts at tat time.

Angkor Thom - Bayon

south gate to Angkor Thom.

built by Angkor's greatest king, Jayavarman VII, Angkor Thom is 10 sq km in extent n consists of 5 temples.

Bayon is e most prominent temple among e 5 temples.

see those towers? there'r 54 of those towers, 4 enigmatically smiling faces of Avalokiteshvara on each NSEW of e towers (=216).

locals suggest tat e 54 towers represent e 54 provinces of e khmer empire e time Bayon was built. hw i noe all these w/o a tour guide? read Lonely Planet. LOL~

according to LP, these faces bear resemblance to e king and they glare down frm every angle in e Bayon, a symbol of great power n ctrl. cool~

Angkor Thom - Baphuon

tis temple is pretty much a wreck, tats wats remaining of its gate (above) with a huge random stack of bricks by its side.

it was taken apart piece by piece for restoration works, until e cambodian civil war erupted n all its architectural records were destroyed during e khmer rouge yrs.

still under restoration works nw lorz.

but its pool is quite a peaceful sight huh.

oh, one thing i like abt visiting angkor is tat there'r no hordes of tourists fighting with u to take photo of e attraction, even when it's tourist peak.

Ta Keo

built by king Jayavarman V, it's e oni undecorated temple among all. construction was nv completed prob cuz of e death of e king.

tats e stairs leading up to e temple. super steep huh? e path to enlightenment is truly nv ez.

in fact, ALL temples of angkor have ultra huge flight of steep stairs, highly eroded. horrendous climb. there's even a 'climb at your own risk' sign lorz.

i din climb alot of those, obviously due to my fear of heights. click on e video to watch e horrifying experience. tink i look like spiderman. haha~

great, i donno how to tilt e video 90 deg clockwise. any experts' advice on tis?? bah~

Ta Phrom

tis temple is hidden among e trees, left pretty much e way it is when explorers 1st found it.

a pile of rubble welcomed us, a usual sight. but we were nevertheless disppointed, cuz tis is supposed 2b e temple featured in Tomb Raider.

then we walked in n marvelled at ta phrom's architectural brillance.

it's scorching hot outside under e sun, but it's seriously cool inside. it's like air-conditioned, except tat there's no air-conditioner! wow~

tadah!! finally, e main attraction in ta phrom! oh my, me n yul looked super tiny beside e tree roots. those trees r hundreds of yrs old lorz.

ta phrom is pretty much swallowed by e jungle over centuries, so much so tat "it's locked in e muscular embrace of vast root systems".

i tink i read sth abt em trying to prevent e roots frm further ravishing e whole structure. oh well~

a buddhist temple dedicated to Jayavarman VII's mum, inscriptions in e temple indicated tat a staggering 80k ppl were required to maintain or attend at e temple. gosh~

Banteay Kdei & Sra Srang

last stop for e day!

Sra Srang is a basin east of Banteay Kdei, a huge n beautiful body of water. absolutely breathtaking~

it was here tat we decided to sit by e basin for a rest. but once we sat down, we were swarmed by kids trying to peddle their soft drinks to us.

pressure selling is one main thing i hate abt cambodia, but u cannoT noT empathise with em given their state of poverty oso. bah~

Banteay Kdei was built as a buddhist monastic complex by Jayavarman II, but it's in a ruinous state due to poor building materials used n hasty construction.

we were fatigued by all e walking n climbing at e end of e day. tho we hired a (USD15, SGD22) tuktuk driver, e gigantic insides of e temples have 2b travelled on foot.

amazing hw we managed to walk those treacherous angkor paths on SLIPPERS. footwear, ppl, appropriate footwear to angkor wat plssssss~

okay tats all i have for angkor, finally finished e post! yay!