I would give you 1 million dollars….

if you can tell me …..

what’s there to not like about this beautiful place.

Heck I’ll even throw in this giant windmill. Might come in handy at home on hot summer nights.

And this set of old, worn bikini, worn by the guy on the left.

Terms and conditions apply.

Hello, I’m back. Remember me? We used to see each other more often when you would read about my mundane stuff, and used it as an insomnia remedy, remember?

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…

What do you do when you can’t sleep and have too much time to kill at midnight?

D-man and I would go for a little ride and almost always end up at Little India, for the fantastic food and nocturnal vibrancy that’s like no other.

We saw the florists decorating this awesome wedding car and D-man tried to bribe them into letting us have a go at this sweet ride.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) those Indian florist will not budge, and blatantly asked us to bugger off.

Well at least we tried…

Where in the world can you find fresh veggies sold on the streets at 12 midnight. Supermarkets are over-rated!

D-man’s idea of midnight comfort food.

Paired with steaming hot masala tea of course.

Now here is one interesting eatery we discovered while wondering down the dark lanes of Little India at night (not recommended if you’re alone!). Lagnaa is a contemporary Indian bistro that takes a creative twist to traditional Indian cuisine.  This board here documents how many people have taken the chilli level challenge. You basically write your name on a peg and clip it to the level you have obtained. I am at level 1 (only because there is no level 0), which is “Anyone can” , and so far no one has attempted level 10, which is “We bestow you King!”.

I’m not even going to talk about Mustafa centre. Even the shops-can-never-make-money-out-of-me D-man can go on for hours and hours in that Aladdin cave of a mall.

Next time you’re insomniac, call us. :)

Our favourite place to visit during weekends. Its been quite a few years and we’ve not gotten sick of East Coast Park yet. Lovely sunshine, calming sea, and a great place to have a leisurely brunch with no agenda.

It is true that some of life’s simplest pleasures comes free!

The monkeys love it too. Am sure you can tell.

D-man and I celebrated our 5th year wedding anniversary last week. Well, sort of….if that’s a celebration by anyone’s means. There were no fancy schmancy restaurants, no flower power, and nope, no candle dandle either. Fortunately, there were no short of sparks either. We scooted around under the stars, had pizzas and chocolate cake at a friend’s pizzeria, and had talked over a cuppa till late. Might not be anybody’s idea of a romance novel but to us, it sure was enough.

Looking back, in the 5 years of marriage, that was probably one of the attributes that bonded us so closely all this while. Being contented with having just enough.

We are not wealthy by any means, in fact, we just get by. We don’t do lavish, for “budget” is our best buddy. Home is a modest matchbox apartment and no yuppified hobbies either. We get our kicks (sorry couldn’t resist!) by just kicking bags at the same old gym with the same old good fellows.

If you ask me, that’s not boring either. Perhaps D-man and I both have a high threshold for doing the same stuff over and over again, but one thing’s for sure, we love doing what we love doing. Perhaps that’s how we are happy, for contentment is being unafraid to keep doing what you like to do.

Sometimes, having just enough is really enough.

was an inspiring and refreshing platform which showcased a variety of our very own home-grown talents. Throughout the 2 hour show, we were mesmerized by singers, dancers, musicians and even a theater performing artisan.  The program was well organized without being overly stifling, the MC was captivatingly humourous without being too corny, and even the audience were engaging and spontaneous. The entire set-up was simple, and yet sufficiently charming.

I have to thank Carmen for inviting us there. Her exotic dance stint sent my heart racing and nose bleeding.

I hope D-man didn’t see that.

Some people say Haji Lane is not what it used to be. The once sleepy, sparsely inhibited part of town that used to be the Muslim quarters is now the “indie” fashion hub to hip young-lings, artistes and adventurous entrepreneurs. It is now funkier, edgier, definitely more commercial. Various artforms are evidential on fashionable clothes rack, designer furniture and alley walls. It’s the place to get the most authentic Middle Eastern cuisine in Singapore and maybe the only area to get Hookah (more commonly known here as Shisha) in our little island city.
Some of the shophouses are oozing with character. You just need to step back, take a moment and look closely.



And some others are filled with such gorgeous, delightful knick-knacks that I would have spent every cent of my savings if D-man had not been there. All $1.78 cents of it.

You absolutely must check out Soon Lee when you’re there. It made my heart flutter and my knees wobbly.

I can’t remember the name of this shop but it had a good collection of vintage stuff. I can almost see my mum in there.

Except that she’s more modern than me.

We can’t stop things from changing. It’s the only constant in life.
We can however, choose to enjoy the bits and pieces that came out of change.

This multiple concept Japanese food outlet was the only shop at Iluma which I found pretty interesting, other than the artists’ displayed works which dotted the entire mall. Most items on the menu were very value for money, and service was decent. Highly recommended if you long to check out girls trotting around in a French maid get-up. D-man seemed pretty intrigued, although he’ll rather be bitten by a vampire than to admit it. I had the pork belly ramen and it was really lip-smacking, fat-oozingly good.

Having said that you need some wits to actually get anything to eat. First there are 3 different areas of the restaurant you can choose from. One’s a Robotayaki counter, the other’s a hotpot corner and the one we went to was the main market where variety is the best. Apparently too good because we found out there are 5 menus to choose from.

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Reunited through Wii. Awww…

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If you love Thai/Laotian food and vegetables, you’ll find a little piece of healthy heaven in this one. I used fresh lettuce for this but you can also use “rice paper”, which are essentially spring roll skins made with rice flour.
Prepare the following vegetables and plain rice noodles.

Prepare the dipping sauce by mixing fish sauce, lime juice, chopped chillies, minced garlic, coriander, sugar, water and chopped peanuts.

Wash the lettuce without breaking it. You need a whole piece like this.

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