All our kites in action…

This person looks vaguely familiar. I think I remember her when she was not yet whale-sized…

Terms and conditions apply.

I didn’t AWOL for no apparent reasons. D-man and I moved into my folk’s 3 weeks ago and am a official parasite to them now. Yup, the progress we make in life is always surprising isn’t it. We then offload everything and went to Thailand for a 2 week rendezvous, where we sweated all of life’s toxins out at a Muay Thai camp and at the beach.

We went to Sinbi Muay Thai this year, and saying we loved it is quite understated. Sure, there were plenty of instructors there ready to whip our lazy arses but they were of the best breeds. There are many people who love their art, but these are the minority who live it. While it may sound very masochistic to say we looked forward to the grueling, painful and almost torturing trainings everyday, the trainers actually made it so. They were generous and patient in imparting their skills, yet able to drive us to the very extreme end of our physical and mental capabilities.

In other words we totally loved it.

Except the blue black eyes, bruised shin, broken ankles, battered thighs and intense body aches.

This is X, one of our trainers. He is hilarious.

And invincible.
This is D-man. He can be hilarious too.

And un-invincible.
These are the dudes from our our gym in Singapore.

They may be un-invincible or not un-invincible.
Are you confused? Good.

That’s a trademark fighter’s pose. But let me tell you a top secret of trade secrets of the toppest kind of secrets.
You can pose like that even if you’re not a fighter.

Just don’t tell others I told you so.

To be continued…

I think A-gal’s a natural at sports. She’s getting ready for..

a somersault…

then she does a cartwheel..

She can also do volleyball serves…

and she touches her toes on the trampoline..

just because she can!

Definitely a happy sports.

Be careful what you wish for Andy, for the Ms Sunshine here has a BFF, Ms 100% Humidity, whom she brings along wherever she goes. Everything here rots and gets mouldy almost instantly. And I mean Everything! Just the other day I found a grey belt (which I thought was the strangest thing) during spring cleaning, only to find out on closer inspection it was actually a black belt covered in colonies of furry little mould monsters.

Anyway he sent some pictures soon after he went back, of the house which we stayed in for about a month during our visit 2 years ago. His place is in a nostalgic hillbilly town in Chur, parked on the eastern side of beautiful Switzerland. Almost immediately I missed that place terribly, and the super duper nice Swiss folks.

I took this photo from his window when I was there during our winter visit. It was snowing and so cold.

Andy’s recent pic of  the same window before the snow. Or was it after? Or maybe in between.

Then we decided to go up the mountains. It was so cold I forgot my name.

We took an old school locomotive rail up the mountains. Andy said there is now an express train. It shortens the 1 hour journey to 58 minutes.

Swiss technology, isn’t it amazing?

I really like the house. It used to be a monastery, and has a nice garden with nut trees and squirrels. It even has a basement tavern for tired monks to chill out at night.  If you stand there in the middle of the night and listen really hard you may actually their spirits clinking mugs of mead.

Not that I heard any.

We’re looking forward to visit and stay again, but definitely in summer this time. For I am a tropical creature and definitely not suited for  low temperatures. During winter, all I want to do is stay at home, curled up under thick blankets. And in the shopping mall. But without the blankets.

Looks like I have to live with the mouldy monsters forever.

We went back to the old hometown last weekend. Every trip back has always been an exhilarating one and this one is no different. Catching up with my folks over overflowing tables of food, I noticed that while some things are not the same anymore, there are others that have thankfully remained the same.

My favourite aunty for instance, has despite her age continued to deliver her mind blowing array of gastronomic delights. Every dish is painstakingly handmade herself, with every gram of food passing the most stringent of inspections. If there is a Malaccan version of Nigella, it has got to be her. Only better.

My run down kampong is still as run down. We ate half of our dinner in the dark and without ventilation, because the electricity had tripped. The staff in the restaurant were totally deadpan about it as well. I can only guess that we were considered lucky because at least we had lights and fans during the first half of dinner. Things like that would have put me off before but as I look back, it’s all but part of the charm of village life. It’s these uncertainties that made us thankful for the times when we had running water and food on the table.

As I watched my cousins’ kids playing with their own cousins, it dawned upon me that not so long ago (or at least it seems), that was me and my cousins. Every chance to get together was one precious opportunity for frolicking in the outdoors, with no recollection of responsibilities nor restrictions. I remember that holiday when we “harvested” vegetables, “cooked” them in a makeshift hawker cart, and forcing the rest to “buy” our culinary breakthrough. Good thing I was not evil enough then to force them to eat it as well.

I might now. :)

Thankfully I did not poison them then. How else could I witness such cute things that they fathered.

My brother loves to hold kids hostage.

Speaking of kids, they love us.

See, what did I tell you about kids loving us…

Aunty’s organic garden. Yum!

Bad Pitt and his retro but trusty C70.

Badgelina spotted in the kampong.

Am at the airport sending A-gal off to Rio, Brazil.

Yeah what’s up with that ugly carryall A?

For those of us mere mortals who possess the insufferable fate of not being able to go overseas for a proper Christmas break, here’s a few tips to keep you from sinking way deep into the hellholes of misery:

1. Start hating all your friends whom are going/have gone for their holidays. Go on, don’t hold it inside. It’s gratifying.

2. Forget point 1.

3. Plan a wee mini excursion to somewhere rural. Like a far away park or another beach which you hardly visit. Or your backyard.

4. Get family and friends together for potluck, drinks, games and simply catching up. What can go wrong with food arriving at your place!

5. Calculate how much money you had saved by not travelling this year. And double that and start planning where you can go next year!

6. Reward yourself with something you always wanted to get. They didn’t make up the word retail therapy without basis.

7. Start baking and give the love to your friends, family, neighbours, co-workers…everyone. It is afterall the season of giving. Just try your best not to poison them.

8. Review and reflect on what you’ve done and achieved this year, and appreciate how things have turned out well (in loose measurements if you must). If you’re alive and reading this, nothing that bad had happened.

9. Look for this year’s resolutions and check off those that you have accomplished. Don’t brood over those not achieved and give yourself a good pat on the back for those successful ones. Then seriously plan and set goals, resolutions and targets for 2010.  Set resolutions not to dictate how you live your life but which direction you are heading it.

10. Write a card to or call friends whom you’ve not met for some time. Take the time to bring them back into your lives again, and vice versa. They can be the hidden jewels inside the drawer you’ve forgotten about.

If all else fails check yourself into Holidays Rehab.

And send me a postcard with it’s address.

Love,
Green Eye P.

After 90 minutes (we went there late because we wanted to kick start the event by fueling up at Changi Village hawker centre) we returned the bikes and went for a short hike. Annie wasn’t very keen (she’s a girl on wheels), until we nearly got lost and found 2 durians.  It’s exhilarating! And I don’t even like durians.  We finished the day off with a scrumptious seafood dinner that cost us 3 times more calories than what was used.

Am sure we’ll all sleep well tonight.

And then Tommy will wake up tomorrow morning limping and cursing. *sniggers*