Today... was a crazy day. Grace and i went riding together; terrible combo because the bikes, riding styles and stamina/endurance level are so vastly different. Poor Grace had to tahan the slow coach for such a long distance...

But anyway, our destination was Sugei Rengit. We wanted to have crabs for lunch and for a change, we thought riding into Malaysia would be fun.

It's horrendous to think that skinny-tyred people actually ride up to Desaru and back in just 5 hours or less or slightly more. Nuts!

Knowing that my mileage for today would be unusually high, i went at a slow, comfortable pace for myself because pushing myself hard for the first half of the ride wasn't going to help me get home later on.

We met up at the Esso station opposite Holland V at 5.30am. i wanted breakfast because i didn't have a proper dinner last night.

ECP Mac - What were all these bikes doing under the "No Bikes" sign so early in the morning...

Breakfast as daylight was breaking...

My Precious at the immigration. Without my Norco, my trip would not have been possible.

First few breaths of Pengareng.

We noticed a playground with swings by the road and we had to stop for a swing.

After around 18+km from the Jetty, we reached the town of Sungei Rengit!


Famished - determined for seafood lunch.

We had these fried butter crabs, fu rong egg and sambal kang kong with rice. YUMMY!!!!!

We returned to the jetty straight after lunch just in case we missed the last boat. We parted along Coastal because Grace wanted to reach back earlier. Also, i was feeling quite bad to have wasted her entire day on a tortoise ride. (This kinda affirms my notion of touring alone in the future.)

Somehow i was feeling hungry throughout the whole day. i had a fillet-o-fish meal for breakfast, a kit-kat bar & coffee milk at Pengareng, seafood lunch with 3 drinks, lots of water from my hydration pack but i was still hungry.

i had to eat the teriyaki chicken don set from Bon Gout! Hahahaha!!! Misa-san gave me the "you are nuts." look when i told her i rode to Malaysia and back. (She was looking at my sunburnt arms and commenting that the weather was hot.)

Since it was still daylight when i left, i decided to take a photo of something that i'd always been wanting to take.

Overseas Union Bank Ltd Godown No.2

i am really curious and itching to find out what this little building is all about. There was also another one of these just beside - Bangkok Bank Limited Godown.

Oh yes, my mileage for today is approximately 130km.
*HUGE APPLAUSE!!!!!*

i know 130km is not much to many roadies/people out there and given the speed that i was going at, there's nothing to boast about.

But...

• i don't do training
• my Precious runs on 2.1" tires & 32T chainring
  
• my Precious is a DJ frame

If i can drop roadies on the ride that i went to, something would be very wrong with me.

i love riding!!!!!

My Japanese friend sent me some Christmas gifts!!!!! i feel so touched... *sniff* He's attached a comic that has both English & Japanese words, bath salt, blueberry toothpaste and a card.

Thanksssss!!!!!!!

Oh mama... i was bored and started surfing for Tony Leung. Now i'm stuck oogling at all his photos. SO MAAAAN!!!!

methinks he's the sexiest man alive.

The week's almost over in a blink. Met up with a JC friend today and we had lunch at New Harbour Cafe at Tanjong Pagar Road (which was so near to my old office). Yummy fish & chips!

Haha... It feels really interesting to be talking to someone you haven't met in years. i think this is a sign of old age - you gotta be pretty old to have "not met a friend in years" huh.

The whole day passed so fast and before i knew it, everyone was out of the office already. i took my bike and headed to Bon Gout for their home-made coffee ice cream.

Random shot. Not nice but at least i was wearing a helmet today...

The other day, i was eating fried chicken curry rice at Bon Gout. i thought the curry rice looked awesome (really like the ones in Japan) so i took a shot of my dinner.

Now i kinda know why that's my hangout place.

And i think i also know why i'm gaining weight...

i'm thinking of riding to Malaysia over the Sunday-Tuesday hols. A 100+ km ride will be nice. i'll get some peace and quiet to myself. Problem is, i don't know the way. i'm famous for riding round and round and round the place, lost, until i recognise the place and remember it. Sheesh.

But that'd be fun huh! Well, i can just squeeze it into 1 day. Hmmm...

A rather miserable Christmas this year although spent with family. As usual, i feel really stressed when hanging out with them but oh well... at least i have a family.

i'm gonna ride to work more, i swear. In the past 5 months, i have lost 2.5kg and then gained 3kg or more after that. i should try to keep my weight more constant and not let it fluctuate in the 5% range. At least i feel averagely fit despite all the weight gain and loss.

i need to build up my Foes by the end of January. That's my promise to myself. i hope the next time i visit Malaysia, it will be on bike - regardless of my Norco, GT, Foes or not-yet-existent touring bike.

Anyway... i hope everyone's having a great Christmas this year!

Awesome video about what riding is all about...

Life's too happening for me. Just came back from a 5-day trip to Penang plus a clubbing session at MOS.

Looking at the time now, i won't be elaborating on my Penang trip. Will just talk about the MOS session.

Went with a colleague and 2 of his friends. i didn't drink much because i was trying to save money and i also didn't had much dinner to start with. (Let me think... 1x bourbon coke, 1x jack daniels' with coke, 1x vodka red bull, 1x vodka sprite? Actually that doesn't sound THAT little.) It was fun dancing and trying to pick up girls but like what Jason said, there were so few girls there. Those who were there were with their boyfriends. We danced in the Retro room but the music got TOO retro (and unfamiliar) that we decided to get back to the main stage.

Then, after a really short while (of about 2 hours+), his friends wanted to go back. =_= "'

And since i couldn't find anyone else to club with and wasn't keen to drink and dance alone, i left too. This is my record time for clubbing - 2 hours+. And yeah, i took a bus back and reached back much earlier than expected. Sheesh...

i guess i didn't really want to get drunk tonight. It was pretty much interesting being sober enough on the dance floor and seeing everyone amusingly high. i could see the DJ having fun. i could see a side of my colleague that i've never seen before. i thought the people on the revolving stage looked like sushi on the conveyor belt.

This afternoon, i was reading a Reader's Digest article on excessive noise levels in Asia. i thought the club music was really way too loud (i.e. unhealthy) for everyone.

Looks like clubbing is really, really bad for health.

• Alcohol (kills the liver, makes you fat)
  
• Noise (kills your ears)
  
• Pushing your body into overdrive (tire you out totally)
• Wallet - financial health (so damn expensive)
  

Sighhhh...

If not for the loneliness of Christmas, i wouldn't be doing this.

These few nights have been so cool and wonderful to sleep.

But i got this dream last night that drew intense fear in me. Some lady was hunting for me and i kept trying to run or hide away. It was stressful and i felt really scared.

i guess such dreams zap up a lot of energy and it's no wonder i couldn't wake up to ride to work this morning.

Just watched "Messengers" for the zillionth time. Every cyclist will enjoy that show man! The story is so cool, the bikes are so cool, the people look so cool, i want to be a bike Messenger too!!!!!!

Can't believe the VCD is dated 1999. Haha! Maaan... i feel like going out to ride in the rain now!

2007 is reaching it's finale.

The end of the year always makes people (want to) re-evaluate their year and hope for progression and growth.

2007 has been an exciting year. It's another of my once-in-a-lifetime type of year with different things happening and meeting so many people of all sorts.

The barista competition was an amazing experience and within the span of 2 months before the comp, i actually learned so much that others would take much longer to learn.

Shortly after, i got the temp job which had an office environment that wasn't very pleasant. (No one beat me up but the place was just unexciting and full of malice as compared to my current work environment.) But at least the pay was good for a temp job.

Then i lodged my bike at TBB and happened to meet and speak to Grace who cycled in that morning too. (So coincidentally because she hadn't rode in for a very long while.) After a short conversation, i found out that they were hiring staff.

Around 2 weeks or so after that day, i decided to apply for the job. Interest and career must never mix (my theory) but i had to find out why. >_o

And so i got the job and have been there for half a year already. It took a really long time for me to adapt to the environment and type of work. However, all my bosses and colleagues are wonderful people and everyone gets along pretty well with each other.

i've learned how to write decent emails, deal with complaints, work with suppliers from all over the world, prepare for meetings, manage my warehouse, try to appreciate skinny-tired bikes, etc. Oh yes, now i can two-fold a letter nicely and insert it into an envelope! Hahaaa!!

i want to be someone who appreciates the little things in life. i am still far from there but i really want simplicity in my life. It makes me happier.

It's Saturday again. The week's gone by so fast, i've got no idea what i've done at all. Went riding at East Coast last night because it's been a really long while since i've seen East Coast in darkness. It was rather cloudy at some areas and you can see the illumination of the clouds just above brightly lit ships and the CBD area.

Light pollution at work.

We went to a breakwater at the end of ECP (towards Changi) and sat there for a while. It's amazing how many stars we could see there because it was pitch dark. i counted until 78 and gave up. Then there were falling stars too. Didn't make any wishes though.

There were many aeroplanes flying towards the airport and the lights on the planes are so bright. i wished i were in the aeroplane heading to Japan.

It's a great thing to ride a bike. You get to places easily. You don't have to worry about late night transport. You just have to make your legs work for a short while and you're there.

It was so tough and tiring THINKING about riding home from ECP alone (maybe around 30km?). The journey itself was much easier. It was 2+ or 3am when i left ECP and i got back at around 4.30. The only drink stop was at the petrol kiosk beside Jelita.

i'm amazed how i am home right now. HAAA!

Super long day. Reached home about half an hour back. At least i got quite a few things done today.

But then again, really, no life lah!

Every time i have a free day to myself, it rains.

SUCKS!

He msg-ed me in the late afternoon when he woke up and said he couldn't remember anything from last night to this morning.

Guys...

Last night was one of those really bizarre nights. BoiBoi asked me out for drinks at Dungeon at Club St (which is a 3-min walk from my office) and i headed over at 11pm after finishing up some work. Apparently he was there with someone from the bike industry and we chatted a fair bit. (Drinks really boost human relations.)

Drinks were on another of BoiBoi's friends (who is also a rider)! We bottoms-up all the way and i really can't remember all their names now... except for a few. There was this guy who looked pretty cute though. Can't remember his name too... HAHA!

BoiBoi was pretty much wasted even by the time i reached there. But he kept telling everyone to keep an eye on me because i have a tendency to wander off and doze off somewhere else when i have a drop too much. Sheesh...

And after countless glasses of drinks, we left the place. BoiBoi sent me back in a cab and i remember briefly asking him to sleep over at my place when we got on the cab.

*** mabo-ed on the cab till my doorstep***

Next thing i remember was me forcing, dragging, almost screaming, almost crying, trying to get him into my place and not let him leave for more drinks. My mum got awoken and i think it must have been really odd for her to see her daughter and ex-bf in that situation...

Somehow he stayed and i got into bed...

This morning i woke up with my T-shirt in the laundry instead of being on me. That, i really have no clue about.

BoiBoi woke up and asked where he was (3 times). Beat him ah! Last night still tell me want to go and drink more!

He asked if he/we did anything last night. Both of us were clueless.

Then we did some couple stuffs... while i was feeling 101% puzzled.

i asked "Why are we doing this?". Still don't know the answer.

i know all the drinking (on his part) is probably to numb the pain.

Then i left for work with a huge headache.

We wanted to eat at the coffee shop near my place and take a cab to work/home but he was sleeping big time.

The whole thing feels so surreal...

Feeling fucked up right now. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's the lack of riding. Maybe it's the work. Maybe it's just me.

i should sleep early and get up at 5.30 to ride to work.

And so i didn't go to Orchard after all... Neither did i get to ride on either of the 2 days. Damned downpour today screwed up all my plans.

Finally i get 2 whole days of rest. It'll be nice because going to Orchard will not be squeezing among sardines. (That's hopefully i get to go Orchard.)

Anyway, i've got some photos from the past week. As usual, they're of the same themes - food, bicycles or scenery.

Enjoying the food & drinks and high ceilings at Capital Tower's Starbucks during lunch (on Monday).

Mariam & OJY came over to my place to discuss our Penang trip and we had dinner before that. Picture of 2 dinosaurs.

Went shopping at Concourse with Grace & Aunty for X'mas decor for the store. Apparently, there were some Terra Cotta Santas & Reindeers on exhibition too...

This buncha brown fellas looked a little lost.

Animal Asia Bike Tour!

Martyn Ashton!!!!!!!

(For once not in the TV or MBUK but real and alive in front of us!)

And his bike...


Forkless

Went to ECP to walk around after that. Nice weather, relaxed place. Very different from the times i go on bike.

Today, despite being a Saturday, feels like any other weekday. i was at work from 10.40am till 8.30pm. Walked to Paradiz Centre after that for dinner and sat at TCC enjoying an Azuki Coffee Cooler with my book.

Maybe the book wasn't that enjoyable... Currently, i'm reading Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber. The book is very disturbing. i'm only halfway through it but every time i open it, i can only manage a few pages before snapping the book shut and try to recover from my shock.

i'm going to say the same thing i said about the movie "Your name is Justine". i hope the book that's based on a true story is not 100% true. It's too painful to think about it.

i'm interested to watch the movie though... Seems like there're 2 releases - 1973 and 2007 (something like that).

*chilly*

It sucks to be riding halfway home and having a really bad stomachache out of the blues. You feel totally uncomfortable, unhappy and desperate (to find the toilet). Arghhh...

Today's ride back was... stomachachy and slow. i reached home drier than usual (even as compared to cycling a few km to NTU). Had to eat dinner at Bon Gout because i haven't gone there in weeks!

Now i feel so tired from the whole day of stock-taking and everything... Work again tomorrow...

i am so tempted to go for Retro night at some club but i should get more rest instead of wasting my time, energy and money on the club. zzz...

The paycheck which hasn't even entered my bank account is half gone... because of this BABY!!!!!!!!

Fox Float 140 RLC

Ahhhhh ahhhh aaaaaahhhhh!!!!!! My colleagues think i'm nuts and overly over the moon but i really can't wait to build up the Foes and ride it with this fork!!!!! (Btw, methinks the 2007 colour's nicer than the 2008 one.)

The problem with visiting suppliers to collect stuffs is that, i always end up spending money instead. Really, i can't resist this. That's the "ouch" factor of being in the industry of your interest.

Rode to work this morning. The journey was pretty fast and the traffic was smooth. At least no one was trying to bump me off the roads. :)

i was stuck in a lengthy meeting this afternoon with the 2 bosses and 1 of our main suppliers. It was all the topics and lingo that made me realize that hey, education is, after all, really important!

If not for the fact that i've studied business before, i wouldn't have appreciated the beauty of how businesses functioned.

i wouldn't understand why my bosses think how they think.

i wouldn't understand why certain strategies or mind-maps were put out.

i wouldn't understand why the accountant is so important to the whole business and why the amount of inventory means the world to the business.

This is amazing. It is theory put into practice right before my eyes!

Well well well... education is still important after all...

Today, there was this criterium at Punggol that we had to set up the tent at and i had to drag myself out of bed at 4.30am. (Now that i think of that, yeah, it explains why i feel so damn tired right now.)

The tent was up in a couple of seconds and we all went for early morning prata at a nearby coffeeshop. After that, Grace and i decided to just hang around/ take a short ride on our bikes. Apparently, the place is really quite an empty piece of land. There was a small building sitting in the middle of nowhere and the trees outside looked rather interesting...

And since the estate wasn't very exciting, we decided to ride a little further out... and we reached Hougang very shortly after. (i was feeling pretty good on the bike then.) Tiong Hin was closed but there were a couple of friendly creatures hanging around there.

Really cute little fellas...

Then we somehow found our way to East Coast Park via Still Road. The morning was crawling... what a waste of time just waiting for the race to end.

Grabbed lunch at BK before heading back. Since it was mid-day, the sun was unbelievable. i was pretty much dehydrated (without my hydration pack nor bottles) and my speed dropped terribly. How devastating...

Anyway, we got our stuffs back to the store and i headed over to Grace's place for a shower before taking a bus to town. Wanted to see the X'mas lighting. Nothing much exciting though...

i ended up buying so many things. Realized i spent around 500 bucks in the past week. Or maybe 2 weeks... i don't know.

It's like spending money in hope to fill the void inside me, only to deepen the void in the wallet.

It really doesn't help that X'mas is coming and all the songs, decor and things are making me feel so sad. Ouch ouch ouch...

Went for a slow, short jog just now and i figured i'll be aching big time tomorrow.

Reasons:

• i haven't jogged in a really long time
• distance covered: approx. 3km
• barefooted

HO SEY AHHH!!!

My fitness doesn't seem that bad considering that the only sport i do is cycling on the pavement at 8kph.

So damn f-king busy today. i feel so bushed. i dread tomorrow's load of work. My body feels so tired, i can barely run for the traffic light. Drowned in paperwork.

If it's this torturous to settle paperwork on bicycle-related stuffs, i can't imagine working on something i have totally no connection with.

The weather's been cool recently and my wrist and joints have been feeling "suan". Signs of old age...

We had a Teochew dinner at Huat Kee and the food was pretty much authentic Teochew food. Yum... But the damage to the wallet was pretty bad.

Watched "Your name is Justine" in the afternoon. What a powerfully disturbing movie... It's one of those shows that leaves me shocked for the rest of the evening. It's a movie of not much verbal description but very strong feelings portrayed by the actors/actresses. No beating about the bush. Clear and simple what the whole thing was about. You just feel the pain and agony. Your whole body tenses up right from the start of the show.

i really hope whatever that's portrayed does not happen in reality. (i think it really happens though.) :(

It's been over a week since i posted photos of stuffs that have been happening. Really love taking photos and i'm glad that although i don't have a camera with telescopic lens, my handphone camera works very fine (at least under bright conditions).

Starting with the most recent day... Yesterday.

Daiju Kurasawa's Jazz Electone Performance. Went with Esther. We were both swept away (with every song) by the skill and sound effects of the performers. It's crazy! How can anyone make Jazz look so easy!?? There were 2 guest performers Robert Nalin (Zildjian player) & Teo Boon Chye (Sexyphonist... oops i mean saxophonist).

And HAAAA! i never knew a pianica can sound SO GOOOOOOD (and sexy)!!!!!!!!! My only memory of the pianica is my primary school classmate struggling to play the pianica because she was in the band or something. i want to play a pianica too!

From left: Teo Boon Chye, Daiju Kurasawa, Me

(Sad sia, i think it's only Me who sucks at music.)

Took a short video clip of the trio. i loved the songs they played and the way they communicated with each other when playing. The eye contact, hand movement, body movement. It's amazing. i'm still so fascinated by how people of different countries and languages can communicate through the love of music.

On a side note, Yamaha really sucks at getting photographs for their performers' brochures. i have never seen a decent photo done for their performers. Look at Yoshihiro Andoh's pic in last year's brochure. Horrible. He looks so cool and cute in real life but urgh... And this time, Mr Kurasawa looks much skinnier when we saw him. i understand that music is No. 1 priority for Yamaha but...

Anyway we went out for dinner at Fish & Co to celebrate OJY's birthday. As expected, he was sabo-ed. The Fish & Co crew made him hold a sparkler and stand on a chair while they sang their F&C birthday song. Didn't take many photos and the few photos that i managed to snap didn't turn out well.


We went for some drinks at Chjimes and then Mariam & Razor left. The 2 of us started roaming around in the compounds of Raffles Hotel.


Gorgeous place... You could feel it, through the architecture, layout and everything retro or high-class or both.

Grandeur.

Back track to the last weekend. 11th November 2007. Togoparts11 - The 11-hour endurance MTB race. Turned out well enough considering the shortage of manpower and the hicks that happened along the way. i'm glad to see the positive & matured comments posted on the forum (instead of flamings, unrealistic expections, death threats, etc). It's the little things that keep organisers going. Organisers don't earn much and it's always a logistical nightmare during events.

(i think i don't want my career to go towards event organisation.)

The trail on the Saturday before the race.

BMX track!

Scenery from start area.

Ah-hem... someone's car wasn't in good luck that weekend. First (on Fri), there was some small stone that hit the windscreen while we were travelling on the 1st lane of the expressway. We freaked our lives out while looking at the crack growing about 30cm.

Sat, helpful committee member vandalised the car with "Time to wash car" on the back.

Sun early morning, another driver must have been squinting too hard to look at those words and ended up kissing the rear. Crunched rear edge of the car.

Boss was devastated - big time!!!

There were Maverick bikes (ridden by their distributor). Those bikes look better than the photos in the catalogues & websites.

Saturday was killer when we had to shop for food for the participants. Other shoppers probably thought we were hoarding up for a war or something. Eddie kept insisting that he push the not-so-paiseh trolley (i.e. the one with lesser bread).

Cleared the bread shelf of this brand.

A very paiseh Eddie at the checkout counter.

2 rounds of shopping and we were almost done at Giant. 3 cartons of bananas, 1 carton of apples, 20+ cans of tuna, 30 loaves of bread, 4 big bottles of peanut butter, 4 bottles of kaya, ?? strawberry jam, etc... It was a nightmare.

There was also shopping @ Sheng Siong where we got 10 trays of eggs (around 300+ eggs i think), 20 packs of hotdogs and 2 kg of dried mango.

Cough cough... speaking of hotdogs, i was sabotaged by Someone who took a photo of me at the race (carrying a whole tray of hotdogs and mouth wide open with half-chewed hotdogs) and posted on tgp. Never mind. Colleague was very helpful and sent the photo to the whole office. =_= Thank gawd this is the "fun" sort of office and not the "office" office.

!!!!!!!!! talk about reputation...

Didn't get to see my boss when he came back this week. He popped by at office on Sunday to drop something and he left me this.

AHHHH!!!! So touched!!! It's chewing gum from JAPAN!

Boy, finally i get a break today from all these in the past weeks. Haven't had much time to myself.

Been coming home so late these few days, i decided to take half a day off (morning half) to sleep in a little later and to get some saddle time. i absolutely love riding. 1 week without the bike, i feel like shit.

Dinner with Bao just now. Talked about all sorts of things. Had a really good dinner at Sakura @ Capitol. Pineapple rice, fried baby squid, sambal kangkong & tom yum soup. Every absolutely amazing! The price was decent too. 26+ for both of us. Wish we had the whole day to hang out. i was feeling kinda tired from rushing around during work but at the same time, i really want to spend time with her.

Gonna sleep now. Got a zillion things to do tomorrow. Somehow i feel some people are kinda sensitive and too serious about some things and that makes things pretty tense. Gawd...

Last week was a crazy week with every night of insufficient sleep. Was working on a major stock count and the 11-hour mtb endurance race. Even though i was so goddamn freaking tired even before half the race was over, i'm so glad most people seemed to enjoy it. A couple of participants posted their posts of gratitude on the forum too. It's good. It's not demoralizing and it makes the organizers want to do better.

My big tank is so clean now. The hoses and plastic tubes are clean & green (yes, they are green originally but were brown for a long, long while.), the rocks are seeing some light & fishes instead of green stuffs, the walls of the tank are clear and the driftwood nicely cleared of the green gook.

Little pleco has been doing a great job! Kudos to this happy baby!

i suppose the best thing about royal plecos is that they take a long while to outgrow the tank. They're also enthusiastic in algae, unlike the common plecos who get uninterested and start eating fishes when they grow big.

Sleeping now... nitez.

Yawn... The day that just passed, a public holiday, was essentially another working day. It's amazing how i ate breakfast, lunch & dinner with colleague(s). Before work, read bike mag. During work, touch bike stuffs. After work, go out for dinner with colleague and talked about bike stuffs.

It is freaky to know what kinda lifestyle all of us are into.

Q: What happens when friend asks you to the fish shop to help him decide on a few guppies?

A: You end up buying a 25-dollar baby plecostomus.

ARGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! i just withdrew 30 bucks before that, crossing my fingers that it'd last me till Sunday, but just 1 hour later, it's all gone to a fish, a plant and some frozen worms & brine shrimp!!!!!!

But the little guy's cute... and i think he'll have a feast on all the algae that's growing in my tank.

i finally found the energy to clean both tanks up. Now they look awesome! Aquariums always look great after a good cleanup and some re-arrangement. i think i can wake up earlier tomorrow morning and sit in front of the tanks for 15 minutes before going to work.

Hahaha... what a no-lifer!

i feel so tired the entire day. There seem to be so much things to be done all at one time and i can't concentrate on any one item.

Body is aching now. Didn't cycle, didn't do strange strenuous activites today but my legs felt so heavy when i was walking back from the MRT. i hope to finish my assignment by the deadline and take my day off next week. At least i'll be able to relax then.

i need the time to do my stuffs for tgp11. Gonna sleep early so that i'll function properly tomorrow.

Here's my bit of porn for the day.

WOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vanilla RC shock, MRP chainguide, Kooka DH cranks 170mm, 42T chainring (quite sure it's AC), Raceface seatpost, Woodman seat collar.

All these on permanent loan from a friend. Really appreciate it!

SO PORNOGRAPHIC!!!!!!!!

Now, wait till i build it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just found out that i bought tickets for an electone jazz performance on the weekend of the Penang race. So... i don't have to rush building the bike for the race, which means i can surf around and ask around for suggestions on the other pornographic parts.

Tampines trail is b-o-r-i-n-g.

Clean & Green was even more B-O-R-I-N-G.

~silence~

That's all for today.

i am gonna be riding something different pretty soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep everyone in suspense for the moment... (the cat will probably jump out of the bag by tomorrow or, by latest, Sunday). *BOINK!* Wait for Sunday!

Came across this that made me feel so nostalgic... Although i probably haven't started serious riding then, i know a whole lot of ppl from the list. Judging from the ages stated there, the list was formed around 7 years ago.

Boy, do i feel old already...

A very long post overdue here...

Last week was a rather interesting week of food & travel. i gave BoiBoi a dinner treat on his birthday. The recommendation of the restaurant was given by Ben and the steak turned out to be amazing...

Random shot on the way to the meeting place.

Absolutely tasty, tender & juicy medium-rare steak with fries.

The small, cosy aircon seating area of the restaurant.
The bill (no alcohol) came within my budget and we were really satisfied with the beef.

A box of chocs that Ben brought from Hyatt's Mezza9. i think i ate 5 pieces in all...
~~~

We went for a rather impromptu trip to Malaysia. There was the organiser Choonwei, Grace, Pengkah, Benny & myself. Bought tickets to KL for Friday night and we all left after work. It was 3+ in the morning when we reached KL and we all bunked over at Benny's house at Petaling Jaya. Grace & i were oogling over Benny's rather pornographic bikes (yes, at almost 4am).

Very nice house. Spacious guestroom for 4 of us. Attached bathroom with full black tiles, bathtub. Nice display case with the entire collection of Absolut. Oakley eyewear stashed by the hundreds (?) in the room.

Gorgeous lugs on this very retro Bob Jackson frame.

Yes, Benny owns these very COOK BROS E2 CRANKS!! He's lucky they're not in red... or else they'd be in my room now.

On Saturday morning, we started our eating expedition in Klang. First was Bak Kut Teh in claypot. There were 3 types of mushrooms, lotsa nice fatty pork, beancurd skin in the dish. YUMMY! This was brunch and we all had a plate of rice each to go with it.

Random shot. i like this photo a lot.

A very bored-looking colleague.

Continuing with our expedition, we headed for some "finger food" along a row of small stalls selling foods. The food turned out to be a full course of lunch!!!! (And this was shortly after our Bak Kut Teh...) We had pork cutlet, asam fish, beef rendang (if i remember correctly) and meat balls. Each dish tasted rather different from what you will get in Singapore and everything was just so flavourful.

Pork cutlet... YUM!

Eat finish main course must eat dessert! Benny drove us to this confectionary where we got cream puffs and... i forgot what the other item was. Despite the 2 brunches we had, the pastries still tasted so good! The cream puffs were fresh and ever so light and fluffy!

When we finally gave up on stuffing ourselves, we had to do the next thing on our list - visit the new store in KL.

TADAAAAA!!!!!
(Huge space there...)

At the top level of the building, there is a swimming pool with glass wall (which allows you to have a bird-eye view of the surroundings while you swim).

Tables & chairs for people to hang around...

Jacuzzi beside the pool... all outdoors.

Group photo! i like this picture a lot. It makes me feel relax and that we've all known each other for a really long time. Also, the photo doesn't look too particularly posed, which is really nice.

Just standing around...

Benny & Pengkah plonked onto the benches, wind in their faces.

Just had to take more photos!

Benny dropped us at the bus station where we got tickets to Malacca. A short 2-hour trip and we got to our destination.

Our hotel room.

Roamed around Jonker Street at night. It's like a night market with lots of snack foods, small toys, gadgets, clothes, etc. It was crowded enough but relaxing for us. Ate noodles at a famous store and ended the meal with some really shiok Chendol.

The canal/river leading to Jonker Street.

Amazing shophouses lining the river...

Scenic.

We had breakfast at a Chinese food stall by the road. i ordered yi mian (dry) and i swear it's the best yi mian i've ever tasted in my entire 23 years of life. However, the 2nd bowl was much less impressive than the first.

The weather was so sweltering hot, we had to get some home-made liang cha from the coffee shop. i like the way they tie the rafia string to the bag.

Koi climbing the lamp post to heaven.

Nonya food for lunch! Sambal squid, fried fish, zhap chai, buah keluah, rice. Needless to say, we were totally stuffed.

Hanged out at the shopping centre nearby to while our time away while waiting for the 9pm coach to JB. Ended up sitting at Starbucks with a RM16+ frappucino. Someone please strangle me!!!!!!!!!! Pengkah went back on his own in the morning and so only 3 of us were left. Grace & Choonwei watched Bourne Ultimatum while i roamed around the huge complex on my own. Ended up buying 2 pairs of berms & a belt for myself. Also got some souvenirs for friends & family.

More Nonya food at another restaurant. The salted veg + duck soup was out of this world!!! There was also otah with generous chunks of fish meat. (i can't seem to remember what else we ate... but we ended the meal with chendol.)

And so we got to the coach all stuffed and sleepy. i slept most of the journey back to JB.

Sunday night (12am) at Larkin bus terminal. Very shagged faces who can't wait to jump onto the Singapore bus, get through the customs and get home to sleep (to wake up & see each other at work 8 hours later).

This trip wasn't the exciting type but more of the relaxed, laid-back, change-of-lifestyle kind. It felt good. At least we had fun. =)