One piece of advice when you are choosing your wedding gown is: never bring along too many people with you (1-2 is fine) or bring 2 different groups of people, else u'll find yourself in a dilemma...

So what has happened to me? I had chosen my wedding gown and tea dress with my 2 sisters on last weekend. So, this weekend, i brought my Mr Yellow, my Papa along with me to try on the groom's suit and father's jacket while I look for an evening gown. My mum, my kid brother and my sis-in-law came along to join in the fun. I tried putting on 3 evening gowns: one red halter neck dress, one dark red with some black ribbon and one dark purple with jewel embriodery which makes me look like an Indian.

After deciding on the red + black ribbon a-line gown as my evening wear, I put on the wedding gown and tea dress to seek for some approval. But...i got a 'NO' from ALL of them~ Fine...but i must say it was quite disheartening to hear that. Anyway Mr Yellow decided that he has to interfere and flip through the wedding gown picture samples.

He picked 2 strapless ball gowns (like a dictator) for me to try on: 1 ball gown that is flared on the bottom and covered with embroidery on the bodice and on the circumference of the skirt (see photo A, not exactly the same one as the one i tried is fully embroidered with gold threads on the bodice and train) and the other ball gown with ruffled bottom, embroidered with crystal beadings and sequins (see photo B, same thing...just looks quite similar to what i tried on). 

The 2nd one was chosen as the 1st one looks similar to my evening gown which is an A-line style of dress with a few pleats on the skirt. As for my tea dress, we settled on a lavender dress (for now). I'm contemplating whether i should get a made-to-measure cheongsam to match Mr Yellow's cream-white 中山装 (suit with mandarin collar).

The final gown fitting and trial make-up and hairdo will be on the 21st Dec, one week away from the actual day. Hopefully i will lose 3-4 kgs by then. Haha~

Here's a sneak preview of my EG (Front view of the dress)

At last, I made a trip down to the bridal shop at Telok Ayer with my jie-meis to pick my wedding gown on last Sat evening.  My appointment was around 6+, but i got attended to only after 8pm as the staff were kept busy by a few couples around and we decided to have a coffee break somewhere nearby. It was a fruitful one as my jie-meis and I managed to draft out with some gate crashing ideas and we have a great laugh while doing it.

Here's an unflattering sneak preview of me in the gown. Too bad i wasn't allowed to snap photos of the gowns that i'd tried. There's another halter neck gown which is elegantly hand embroidered with tiny purple flowers along the neckline and bottom of the gown. Too bad i look rather matured in that dress and so i decide to stick to my first choice. Oh by the way, I like this gown right after i tried it on...even before i sign the package with Volans. It is this dress + the reasonable pricing + the owner's warm service attitude (who is a taiwanese btw)  that make me decide to take up the package. Sad to say, lazy piggy has not been watching her diet nowadays that she no longer fits in the gown nicely. Goal for her by end of Nov shall be: To fit into the gown without a rubber band on the zip at the back of the gown. Hiak, to think the zip can be nicely zipped up 3 months back...

I'd checked out the wedding banquet decor on the same day, with Mr Yellow and here are some photos...

View from the stage

The lightings.

  Table decor. A stalk of red rose...

Reception Area. Notice the man in black?

Overall, it doesn't give me the wow feeling and i feel more can be done here. Need to think on how to enhance the decor without any knocking and hitting with minimal costs...

I'd missed out a few places which we visited when we first arrived at the southern part of Taiwan. Mr Huang's aunt drove us in her little orange car to one of the harbours in Kaohsiung, a fish market as well as the beach.

Lover's Wharf, Jiading (茄萣鄉) Kaohsiung County (高雄縣)

Fish market at Jiading.

We had the freshest sashimi we had ever tried at this little stall. The tuna sashimi tasted so different from what we always eat at the Japanese restaurants in SG. The texture of the fish slice is not powdery at all, or in fact it has a smooth texture. And the best part is, it's cheap! Around NT$200 for (Forgot that's 3 or 4 kinds) around 20+ pieces!

Aunty buying some 烏魚子 or Karasumi in the leftmost photo. Karasumi, or preserved fish roe. A delicacy in Taiwan and Japan. I'd tried it baked and cut into thin slices. Eat it with mayonnaise sauce and it simply tastes oiishi!! Yumyum!

Went to the one of the beaches after lunch at the marketplace. Weather in the southern Taiwan is quite comparable to that in Singapore. But but...when i first step onto the beach...omg...the sand is scorching hot! The beach is covered with such fine and hot sand. To make it worst...i was wearing slippers. Flat slippers. And I had to walk briskly to the water to sav my feet from being barbequed. Fortunately, there isn't much for us to do there and we decided to drive back to Tainan for Grandpa who has been awaiting our arrival. Hee~

Next...on Hualien (To be cont)

As Mr Huang's grandpa has moved to stay with his aunt in Tainan, we made a trip down from Taipei the following day we reached Taiwan via the high speed railway (高鐵). The whole journey took us 1 hour plus and the fastest speed the train can go is 300km/hr. It has cut short the travelling time by half. Travelling from north to south is so much easier for us now compared to taking the 台鐵 from Taipei to Kaohsiung 3 years ago.

Tainan city, like his aunt had described, you'll get to see a little temple in every 3 steps and a big one in every 7 steps (三步一小廟, 七步一大廟). Haha~ It's a place full of temples, shrines and historical sites and buildings. This is due to the fact that it is one of those places where the people from Mainland China first settled down in the Formosa. In fact, it was the capital of Taiwan from the mid-17th century(when Koxinga or well-known Ming admiral Zheng Chenggong drove away the Dutch from the island and set up his kingdom there) to late 19th century under the Qing dynasty. Today, it remains the 4th largest city (oldest as well) in Taiwan (after Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung) and is a city rich of traditional flavour and culture. Food in Tainan definitely tastes different from what you can find in Taipei (though i have not finished trying all the local delicacies) and the weather is so much friendlier (i.e. warmer) than that in the latter.

Historical sites in Tainan are divided to different grades, ranges from First class to second class and third class. (一級古蹟, 二級古蹟, 三級古蹟). As photo has shown, we went to Chih-kan Tower (First class) aka Fort Provintia, esta in 1653, has 300 over years of history.

Sidetrack a bit, the sashimi served at this mini stall opposite the tower is cheap and good~

After the sashimi lunch, we headed to The Sacrificial Rites Martial Temple (First class) nearby. (Esta around same time, is situated opposite the Chih-Kan Tower)

Followed by The Confucian Temple (First class), esta 1665

and the Koxinga Shrine, (First class), esta 1662

Eternal Golden Castle (built in 1874 to protect Taiwan from the Japanese army) and Old Fort of An-Ping (est by Dutch in 1623 as a Trading Port)

Some other sightings in the city.

Must try food in Tainan city. Chou's Fried Shrimp rolls. I love their almond pudding topped with red bean paste. Had 2 in 2 consecutive days.

Night markets are not to be missed in Tainan too. We visited the largest night market in Tainan on our 2nd night there and you can find almost everything there, from local flavoured food to clothes, bags and accessories. Their preserved fruits (can't remember what i ate) are delicious too.

Some interesting sights of the streets at night in Tainan-city. Huge wall paintings and traditional row houses along Shennong-street 神農街. Somehow it just remind me of those conserved shophouses in Chinatown.

    Famous street art along Hai-an street.

Hello~

Same artwork in daylight. (It looks nicer in the night) We spotted a couple doing their wedding photoshoot here.

Went to Cigu 七股 to visit the Taiwan Salt museum and the salt mountain on our 3rd day in Tainan. The museum introduces different methods of producing salt (the oldest method was the solar/evaporation method) and their uses as well as the history of the salt production in Taiwan. The salt production has ceased in Taiwan today and the country imported its supply from Australia.

Tucheng Luermen Matsu Temple. (Largest temple in Southeast Asia consecrated to Matsu and copied the structure of Forbidden City in Beijing)

Spotted one of the staircase well that is covered with thousands of wedding photos. Apparently, these people went to pray to the God of marriages and got hitched after that.

Flowers flowers flowers. There are a few patches of vacant land, grown with my favourite flower, Sunflowers! However, a lot of them have already wilted and it's difficult to find a good spot to take 'the perfect flower sea'. So, I tried to focus taking on a few stalks.(Don't they look smiling to you?)

Love these as well...

Hope to visit Tainan again soon~ (To be cont)

Referred websites: http://www.tncg.gov.tw/ and http://www.taiwan-salt.com.tw/english/intro.html

Aw...Finally i have time to update on my 2-week long Taiwan trip. Mr Huang and I travelled to four places this time round and our itininery was like this:  Taipei (10/5)  -> Tainan (11/5 to 14/5) ->Back to Taipei (14/5) -> Ilan (15/5 to 16/5) -> Hualien (17/5 to 19/5) ->Back to Ilan (19/5) -> Back in Taipei (20/5 to 24/5)

Day 1 (Taipei)

No photos taken on my first day in Taipei as it was my 3rd time there. Haha~ We reached the Formosa at around 1pm. His uncle came to fetch us and brought us to Mr Huang's old apartment in Shipai 石牌. The apartment was 6 storeys high and there is no lift. This is not my first time staying there and i have to bear in mind not to bring too heavy luggages as poor Mr Yellow has to carry them up 6 floors. Fortunately his mum dropped by a few days to clean the house for us before she returned to SG, else i'd have to spend the whole afternoon to clean up the place.

However, i realised i'm not satisfied at all. There's no TV in the house (his uncle moved it away). I can survive without internet, but my next impt entertainment is unavailable. Aw...The whole house is so quiet. And as usual, the water heater is not working at all. If the climate is similar to that of SG, i should be able to bathe without warm water. But the climate in Taipei is almost like winter in mid-May, which is totally unexpected (I only brought short sleeved shirts and 3/4 pants for the 2 of us). So, we spent almost 1 hour to use the electric flask to heat up enough tapwater (4 times the volume of the electric flask) for us to have a warm bath.

Enough of complaints, i should be happy enough to have a room to stay. Like Mr Yellow said, i'm too pampered. I almost want to get a hotel room but the thought that his mum had cleaned the house for us to have a comfort stay puts the idea off. After we dropped off the luggages at his place, we took the MRT to the famous Shilin Night market for an early dinner. Wah...the first thing we ate is the oyster omelette with sweet sauce 蚵仔煎,  smelly fried beancurd 臭豆腐 and my favourite Ru Rou Fan 魯肉飯(minced meat rice). Yum yum. I missed 魯肉飯 a lot~ The next thing i missed is the breakfast stall near his house, that sells 肉圓 and 四神湯!

Finally had this for breakfast on my 6th day in Taiwan (after we visited Tainan and before we went to Ilan). Doesn't look that great huh? Apparently, this is the Zhang-hua Rou Yuan 彰化肉圓. It's starch with meat filling, covered with special sweet sauce. See...that cloudy white thing is the sweet sauce. I find the soup goes well with it as it has a light and quiet taste and the intenstines are springy. Oh i'm salivating now...Everywhere has 肉圓 but the tastes can be different cuz I had one in Tainan and it tastes different from this.

See...Even the looks are different. This one was served together with clear soup, which is not to my liking...

Next part will be on my Tainan Trip~

Took a day off from on last wed, 13th Feb, to go KTV and trekking with Jazzy and Gary. Nearly got lazy to go sing lunch from 11 to 2pm. Though it was planed earlier that we were going on the HSBC Treetop Walk (we started from MacRitchie Reservior) in the afternoon, i thought i can still go ahead with my unsporty or inappropriate attire. Haha~ I was totally filled with regrets after that.

Before we started on our 3-hr trail from MacRitchie, we took a few photos with a few inhabitants there...

If you wanna go on hiking, besides wearing appropriate attire, e.g. you can wear dry-tech T-shirts, presented by Jazzy and Gary, you may also wan to carry a few things along (in a bag suitable to bring for hiking, not shopping) A few necessities are: Tissue papers (For wiping water lost thru hiking), Drinks (For replenishing water in the body), Umbrella(In case that it rains or shines too brightly). Keep the bag as light as possible, unless you want to carry weights along the way, to build up your biceps or triceps muscles. Haha~

Some interesting stuff that we took pictures of along the way to the Treetop Walk...

It took us 2 hours to complete the 5 km walk from MacRitchie to the Treetop walk (aka HSBC TTW aka the hanging bridge). For your information, the gates on the hanging bridge are closed at 5pm on everyday and closed on Mondays. It opens at 830am on weekends (and public holidays) and 9am on weekdays. The last 100m to the hanging bridge was quite torturous as the slope towards the TTW is quite steep and we were rushing for time. Though we made it in the end, we do not have time to slow down to take pictures from the TTW as the caretaker wanted to close the gate at the other side of the bridge. Never mind, we still take some photos at the end.

See the non entry sign behind?

Meet our new spokesperson for P*kk* Green Tea.

Wearing white T-shirts make you appear glowing in the dark. Thought they 'reached enlightenment' after the 2-hr walk.

Wrong footwear presented by yours truly.

We ended the 1-hr forest trail by entering the deep end of rifle range road, near some ST engineering Pte Ltd. There were no vehicles coming into the road. While we were contemplating whether we should get a hitch a ride in a car that is leaving the ST centre,  some monkeys came out to divert our attention, until we saw a cab coming in...

Anyway, it is strongly recommended by us that you do some homework before you start on any hiking. The website for TTW information is here (http://www.nparks.gov.sg/nature_central_treetops.asp) You wouldn't want to be like me, ending up walking aimlessly on some weird trail and looking out for civilisation constantly. Map for the trails can be found here http://www.nparks.gov.sg/imgs/nature_central_map1.jpg

Dinner at Brewerkz Clarke Quay 

Jazzy dear back in SG for the festive season again. As usual, i took a few days off to keep her company and brought her to my fav place, clarke quay. Porky joined us for dinner as well since it has been a while that both of them meet up. Gary and Marcus joined slightly later but at least they made it unlike poor Fei fei got stuck in a meeting.

Muahahaha~ i got to know this four people at the same time, same place (on the 1st monday of year 1998 during the 3mth course at NYJC, in class CT10. Aw...who would have thought on that day that we'll still keep in touch after a decade and that i married one of them?! Brrr...*Hair standing up*)

Day out at dempsey road

It'd be more romantic to go in the evening. But nevertheless, going in the afternoon is quite a good choice as well since there's not much people. But after walking round and round the hill under the hot sun, i gave up exploring the place and started calling my colleague to find out where is the P.S cafe. The place is quite easily accessible from Orchard as it took us ard 10 mins via bus 106 (other buses are 7, 77 and 123) from somerset mrt station to get there.

We ordered desserts at the Cafe, Profiterole and Fudgy brownie plus 1 Oreo milkshake and banana milkshake. But we either overestimate ourselves or underestimate the portion. Ate until we almost want to p*k*.

Profiteroles. The almond flakes are fragrant & crunchy. But Jazzy face looks more like a disgusted look than a greedy look. Haha~

Fudgy Brownie with ice cream. I think the portion should be just nice for 3 gals. The marshmallows combined with the fudgy chocolate coating are the ones that make one feel super filling.

Jazzy dear trying to get the cookie out of the glass while me happily sipping my banana milkshake away. Rare chance for me to order some banana dessert without having to consider that Porky wei, who will share food with me, doesn't like bananas as much as i do. Hahaha~ Overall, the ambience is good. We saw a few ang moh tai-tais enjoying their afternoon tea at the cafe. Couldnt help imagining and envy how much free time they have on their hands.

Before we head back to orchard for shopping, we took a few photos outside the cafe. One of the waiters who noticed us snapping photos away outside the cafe, is kind enough to offer his help to take a picture of us. And there we go...

To my dear friend, no matter how far we are apart, we have never failed to contact and update each other on our lives almost every weekend. Though sometimes i really wish to have you back in sg for good, to be able to get easy access to your listening ear and to be your support as well... Hee...Cheers to our 10 years of friendship... woohoO~ 朋友, 我們還有很多個十年要一起度過...

Okie. Got the photos from other 2 tourmates.

Here's my fav place in the park, the Lory Loft. It's a huge enclosed area, covered with a big net, and inside it there are a few levels made of steel and wood.

For $2 or $5, you get to feed the lories flying round in the enclosed space. The food is in semi-liquid form, seems to be some kind of dissolved bird food. Anyway, hold the bowl carefully with 2 hands and stretch out your arms. Wait patiently and you'll soon see the birds flocking to you. They are greedy birds which never seem to stop eating. You may also get lucky when one of them sit on your shoulder.

 ( On the hanging bridge in the lory loft)

After feeding the birds, we moved on to visit other birds in the park. The one in the left pic is a Toucan. Can't rem what's the one in the right pic.

 Tree full of birdies

 Us, waiting to watch the 'Birds of Prey' show~

Here's a white-bellied eagle, waiting for the signal to fly for us...

Another eagle, caught the prop threw into mid-air.

Birds of Prey, like the name, we got to see eagles soaring across the audience seats and also over our heads. There were appearances of not only eagles, but also vultures and owls in the show.

Strange thing is these birds, never took the chance to escape from the park. Guess they already treat it as their homes and too comfortable to leave the place bah~

We ended the tour with another visit to Kaku, the parrot and we found the bird was still as active as 5 hrs before. Haha~ 

~End~ 

          

          In the 1st photo, the youngest (very obvious) is 22 yrs younger than me and the eldest (guy in 2nd row, right corner) is 7 years older than me. The rest, including 3 sisters who din attend, are all younger than me~~~

Gee...took another photo, this time round with the birthday boy and his brothers (in the back row)

Hmm...dunno when we'll gather in such manner again but one thing for sure it's going to take another 2 years for the next one to hit 21...another 3 years for the next next one and another 5 years for the next next next one...Argh...sad to noe i'm no longer young soon...

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This Sunday afternoon i had a super-impromptu badminton session. Managed to book 2 courts at joo chiat cc for an hour just the day before, or 12 hours before to be exact. Played for 1 hour and my right arm and thighs are aching now... But it's good exercise, sweat a lot and definitely more tiring than my 30-min jogging...so i excused myself no need to jog today...muahaha~

Tml going to watch Pirates of Carribean 2 at The Cathay in the evening. Yeah~ Heard from TS it's good. Hope tml time will fly fast...

PW's cousin is on her 1st visit in SG and the 1st tourist attraction we brought her to...the Bird Park. It took super long for us to reach Jurong (around 1.5 hr) and we toured around the park for almost  5 hrs.

Here's a recap on our Bird park tour...

 Meet Kaku the talking parrot (Talking birds section, near the entrance)

This fellow is funny and friendly to its visitors. Apart from saying 'Hello' and 'How are you', it also know how to pronouce it's own name, laugh and make sounds of a reversing car (But we nvr got to hear it). It's laughter goes sth like 'Heer heer heer' which make it sounds hilarious. At times, the parrot will turn its back towards us and let us stroke its features. It really took away the limelight from other talking birds.

We really enjoyed been entertained by Kaku, but there were still other birds for us to see (or for them to see us?)

 Flamingo Parade

 This owl looks like a jail-bird...(haha~)

                  Right up, left down                             Left up, right down                    and finally both down...

           Apparently, they stick their heads in water for 5 secs in every 5 sec intervals                                   

 Pelican resting on the tree top...and in the centre of the pond...

These fishes look big and fat but they are inedible...

 Took some pics in the parrot arena...where the parrots (unlike those near the entrance) are kept in huge tall cages...quite a noisy place as most of them are yaking away...

 Took a few pics at the man-made waterfall in the park...and here are pics of some birds that can move freely in the area...

I like this pic...duckies look so comfy hiding away from the sun...

We were touring around the this Jewels of birds section and complaining that we can't see any birds around when suddenly we saw this big lizard, lying across the wooden pathway,,, ,,,

Looks like it's sun bathing...it stayed quite still and totally indifferent to our presence...

 Only foxy is brave to pose with this creature...

 This is the Lory loft area...but ah...i'm lazy to write further now...some more my camera ran out of batt here...luckily we have 2 other cameras...

to be cont'...

Had a bbq on last saturday with some friends. Photos can be found in the 'BBQ 060624' album.

Our bbq menu includes mushrooms,cheese sausages, taiwan sausages, chicken nuggets, chicken chop, satay, sting ray, squid, prawns, bee hoon, marshmallows...There were too much food and some of us have to ta-bao back home. Next time got to cut down on the amount...Our chefs also had hard time cooking the food. Some played games to keep themselves entertained while waiting for food, like Bridge, Chinese chess and Big2. The fun ended after taking some group photos.

Anyway, while we r bbq-ing, a snail got attracted to a used plate (think it was mine).

It crawled very slowly towards the plate... from the time when we can still see the sun til the sun set...

and when it finally crawled up the plate...it started moving across the plate and feeding on the beehoon strands!?

What a slimy snail...but definitely much smaller than the snails i see in the park near my place...

Dun ask me if the snail finish all the bee-hoon on the plate, cuz i stopped checking on  it after i captured this photo...

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Just a week before the bbq, few of us had a cycling session at East Coast park. I got much tanner after cycling for almost 2 hours under the hot noon sun.

Photos are in 'East Coast Park 060618' album and my bf blogged about it here.

http://zenitharchaios.spaces.msn.com/blog/cns!729CF6921D342928!246.entry

My turn to pull a block...

 

  

4th Dec-6th Dec(Sun-Tues)

 Too bad, we can't afford to book a room and stay for the night there...So we went to a much more affordable place for spring bath.

 This is the place we went for hot bath. Went to the same place for hot bath for 2 nights. Costs NT$150 for a 40-min bath.

We went to another mountain top (There's a golf course at the top  of the mountain). We got some food and we fed the pigeons and ducks nearby.

   

This man holding a banner in the middle of Xi Men Ding