Ah Les in US

First Off Day

2006-07-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

Decided to post some old pictures. These were taken a few Saturdays ago, during one of my first off days after the summer season started full swing. Went around the area sightseeing with Meiyan and Qingyi.

This was taken at Monroe Park, the park opposite my hostel. Pretty small park with basically nothing much except this fountain and a few other statues.

Outside the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart with Qingyi. This is the church that I go to for mass every Sunday coz it's located just opposite the road. One thing different from masses in Singapore here is that during Holy Communion, you get to either receive the Body of Christ or the Blood of Christ, or both. Cool.

The interior of the church. I love it! Reminds me of some Roman church. I definitely wanna go to the Vatican one day. I like the way basin-like structure that holds the Holy Water too.

Picture on the left shows Boat Lake in the background. It's a pretty small lake with just a fountain in the centre, though they rent little boats that people can juz rent and relax out on the lake. The other picture shows the little island around Swan Lake, infested with ducks and yep, swans.

Proceeded to Maymont Park next, which is slightly more than an hour's walk away from our residence. This kinda walking distance might sound obscene in Singapore, but here, somehow all of us thinks it's manageable. Well, most of us anyway.

Maymont's kinda like a giant park with mini sections inside. We went through the entrance near where all the animals were kept. There were like deer, sheep, foxes, eagles and bison. It was like a mini zoo.

Two little lambs relaxing in the shelter under the afternoon sun. On the right, a gray fox posing for the camera.

This is us in the Japanese Gardens. I love the scenery! Bonsais, koi, little arched bridges and even a little waterfall made the place look so surreal. Makes you appreciate the beauty and majesty of nature.

This is the waterfall that everyone's so hyped up about. Already looks so good in the picture. Imagine what it's like seeing it in real. I can't wait to see the Niagara Falls.

Ermm.. this picture was supposed to be a cool picture of us doing a duel scene in those Chinese kungfu movies. Ended up looking quite cock. Damn. I knew I should have chosen better weapons instead of the two measly twigs.

Next up were the Italian Gardens.

These were the steps up to the Italian Gardens. Reminds me of the famous Hong Kong cemetary built on the slopes that is always featured in movies.

Overall, the Italian Gardens looked pretty nice, sorta like Fort Canning. Think Ang Mohs would like to hold their weddings at this kinda venues. But for me, the Japanese Gardens were definitely the location of the day. Period.

Williamsburg

2006-06-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

It's been quite some time since I arrived in VCU, and starting to get used to my surroundings. My daily groceries and other necessities obtained from supermarkets Ukrops and Kroger, and my little meal treats at Five Guys, Qdoba and Coldstone Creamery, all a stone's throw away from my area of residence. Decided to use our off day to explore other parts of Virginia. We decided on Williamsburg, a small town east of Richmond, mainly coz some people wanted to go to visit historic sites there, and most people wanted to go there for cheap shopping.

Rented a car from this place called Enterprise Car Rentals. Not a bad company. We managed to rent a car and a minivan for like 200 plus a day, so each one of us paid like less than 20, which is very reasonable considering the crazy prices of transport here in the US, which is why we try to walk to places within a one hour radius from our accomodation in downtown Richmond.

Both are Dodge models. The car's a Stratus, and I can't rem what's the model of the minivan, but they are really powerful. You can juz feel the car raring to go when you rev up the engine.
Made driving really smooth.

The hard part though was the fact that it was left hand drive! Damn not used to it la! I'm so used to traffic coming from your right and keeping left when turning. Here it's totally different! I was worried I would turn into oncoming lanes so I had to look left and right everytime coz I would always end up being confused. Even the gears are on the right instead of the left! I ended up constantly turning my wipers on instead of signalling. But after a while, it's quite fun. Not a bad experience to be able to drive both left hand and right hand drives.

Williamsburg is about 44 miles away, about a 45 min drive from where I stay, but we ended up lost and took about 2 hours coz the road signs were inconspicuous and the maps were practically useless. With some help from passerbys and a lot of luck, we finally managed to reach Colonial Williamsburg around lunchtime.

Colonial Williamsburg is a historic site. From what I heard, this is one of the first places in US where their ancestors settled, near the Jamestown, Norfolk area. Tranquility and serenity sums up the mood of the place. Definitely not my kind of place. Too quiet. Too empty. Too boring. Reminds me of a history field trip.

I like the 3D map found at the entrance of the visitor centre though. It's cool. Reminds me of one of Hann's archi models.

Doesn't this look like the scene at the start of 20th century fox?

This bridge is known as the Bridge to the Past. It connects the visitor centre to an open area of sparsely populated colonial buildings. We headed back straight after taking this photo. Way way too boring stuff.

Drove around the countryside and found a meadow where there were many horses, so we went down for a look.

The horses here are really tame. This one here is photogenic too. It actually put its head through the fence, allow us to pat its head, and face the camera too!

Palomino. My favourite breed of horse. Brown horses with gold manes. Don't they look majestic? Makes me wanna take up riding. These horses badly need a bath though.

Went to the Prime Outlets to shop after lunch. These shops are sort of like a factory outlet, so they sell branded stuff for a fraction of the cost! Nike, Calvin Klein, Oakley, Fossil, Guess?, Ralph Lauren, you name it. It's fun coz things are so cheap everyone encourages everyone else to buy and buy coz it's so worth it. I think the watches are a steal. DKNY watches are sold for like USD$30-40 and Armani watches are about $70 plus, which is way way cheaper than you could ever find in Singapore. Pity I couldn't find anything I liked. Saw a female Burberry's watch that was really classy. Had a light blue and purple strap and a pretty face. Wanted to buy that for my auntie but it turned out to be a whopping USD$170 bucks! Moral of the story: when you're in US, go for US brands. Don't go for foreign brands. They're damn ex! Seiko old models are sold for like USD$300 a piece! Dat's more than 500 Sing, which is damn boh hua. You can get a brand new model for less in Singapore.

Trying my best to look like a black rapper, though I think it ended up more hilarious than cool. Actually I really thought the baseball jersey was nice. Too bad the clothes here are so big that I drowned in the smallest size. Looked more like a lab coat on me. Nike should really be more considerate towards their less physically endowed consumers.

End of a long day shopping. We took like almost 5 hours to cover the 89 shops there. Totally shacked out by the end of the day. But I'm looking forward to Woodsbury, the premium outlets in New York. Heard from my friends there are about 230 shops there and the prices are even lower! I think Little Girl will go mad when she gets there.

Downtown Discovery

2006-06-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

Haven't been updating for a long, long time, due to a combination of long working hours and daily late night mahjong sessions. These pictures were taken about 2 weeks back, about the second or third day after I moved into VCU. Only managed to get the pictures uploaded now but I'll try to recollect the place.

The picture on the left shows Carytown, which is like one of the biggest shopping places in downtown Richmond. Been there for like about 3 to 4 times. Things are not exactly that cheap (quiksilver and reef board shorts are like US$50 a piece) but there are many small and interesting shops that makes walking down the streets a joy. It's like a combination of the small shops in Bugis with a Holland V feel, and the good thing about it is that it is a very long stretch of seemingly endless shops that you can spend about half the day walking up and down. Especially good for girls coz most of the shops sell very girl stuff. Bad thing though is that most of the shops there close about 6 or 7, and although it's only about a 45 min walk from our hall (yes! it's considered a walkable distance here!), we took a damn long time to find the place the first time around coz we couldn't find our way and reached there around 7 plus, so we ended up only being able to walk on the outside of shops.

There's also an theatre here known as Byrd Theatre. It screens movies that are about half a year later than the movie releases everywhere else. Good thing about it though is that it is only USD$1.99 a ticket! Normal cinemas here cost like USD$6 for off peak hours and USD$8.50 for peak hours. And it is normally packed on Saturday evenings coz there are live organ performances before the movie screenings.

And there's this Thai restaurant by the name of Mom's Siam that's an absolute must try! I dunno if we've been here too long and miss Asian food too much but the food's realli realli good! Especially their spicy drunken fried rice! I juz can't stop thinking bout it! And the waitress is rather pretty too. Looks like a slimmer and prettier version of Rong Zu Er. Haha. That's an additional bonus.

Red curry and Green curry. Not too bad. Serving's a bit small though.

This is what I'm talking about! Drunken fried rice! Spicy and fragrant!

And this is the waitress from the shop. Looks better in real person though.

My final verdict of Carytown: it's a nice place to spend a lazy afternoon, browsing through shops and relaxing along the sidewalk cafes, but if you're looking to shop, head somewhere else for better deals.

My Home Away From Home

2006-06-05T19:13:00.000-07:00

Moved from my temporary residence in Quality Inn to my permanent one in Rhoads Hall, one of the halls of residence in Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). One of the rare few buildings in Richmond that require an elevator I guess.

First sight of my new home.

With Swee Lai, Weng Hong, Xinyan and Xiuling.

I was allocated a room on the 17th floor, the 2nd highest floor. My level comprises of Singaporeans, Russians, Ukrainians, a couple of Bulgarians and an American from North Carolina. Feels really weird to be honest, coz they are quite noisy. They talk loudly, sing loudly and laugh loudly. And they walk to the common bathroom in nothing but their underwear (not even boxers), so it's quite embarassing for the girls that come to our level. But they are really friendly. I've learnt a few words. "Zdrasty" is hello and "Kfo staa" is wassup in Bulgarian. Haha. Not bad right? But I doubt I can remember what they've taught me.

This is the view from my room. I quite like it, coz I can see the church from my room. The church is beautiful! I love it. Will upload pictures of the interior of the church sometime later. And the room sizes differ from room to room. My room happens to be the largest coz it's a corner room, and it happens to be the only one with a mirror, so we gather in my room every night to play mahjong and some of them will come over to use the mirror in the mornings before work.

This is Ukrops, which is a supermarket juz 2 streets from where I live. I frequent Ukrops coz we can get cheap groceries and meals there. Never knew I could be so calculative about the prices of groceries until I came over to the US. Haha.

Night view from my room. Spots on the outside of the glass make it seem like there's a meteor shower going on outside. But I like the effect. Cool.

Better view of the night scenery of downtown Richmond, taken from Austin's room.

VCU is a large campus, right smack in the middle of downtown. Thing is though, there are no definite boundaries that demarcate the school from the rest of the town, very much unlike our campuses back home, which make it very confusing whenever we walk round the campus. Good thing though in the States is that all the roads are straight with perpenticular intersections which make map reading and finding our bearings less tedious. Hope to settle into the surroundings as soon as possible. I've got more than a month.

Day in Washington D.C.

2006-05-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

Went for a day's trip to Washington D.C. , courtesy of my employers at Paramount. D.C. is so different from Virginia! I can't comment on the activities, but at least the sights are much nicer, though we juz visited museums and memorials. Again. Americans seem to like to dwell in the past. Or maybe it's just this part of US. We took a 2 hr bus ride from Richmond to D.C. and spent something like 8 hrs scampering around to try to cover as much as we could, but really, there was really too much to cover.

Stopped outside the National Museum of American History, our drop off and pick up point. They have two streets lined with museums, museums and more musems. I lost count.

Those 2 streets and the surrounding areas are collectively known as the National Mall.

Started of at the Washington Monument, the most recognisable structure from afar. Too damn alot of pics of it but somehow, all din turn out too well due to the lighting.

Pictures taken outside the Ronald Reagan Building. I have no idea what this buidling is. Practically running from place to place after the photos were taken.

The American treasury department.

Photo taken with a statue outside the treasury department.

In case you're wondering what this is, it's the National Christmas Tree. To be honest I thought it looked pretty out of shape, but I heard it's pretty beautiful in winter, especially when it's draped with all the christmas decorations.

Xinyan, Xiuling, Me and Wenghong getting as close as we could to the White House. They used to open up the White House to tourists before the 9/11 attacks. What a pity. So near yet so far.

Zoomed image of the White House.

Chanced upon a limousine. It's damn long la! Only realised there was a driver inside the limo after we took the pic. Den we outside keep changing poses like idiots. Must have been quite xia suay.

The driver was nice enough though to let us take a few pics of the interior. Man, it's damn cool! I wanted to ask if he could hold the door for me while I took the pic but I decided against taking advantage of the driver. Haha. But it's ok. I'm gonna ride in this someday man.

World War II Memorial. The fountain you see here is known as the Rainbow Fountains (if I remember correctly). In the background is the Lincoln Memorial. The pictures don't do the place justice. It's beautiful!

Closeup of the Rainbow Fountains.

Taken at the Atlantic end of the memorial. The individual pillars represent the colonies and states that contributed to the American efforts in World War II.

Group photo at the Atlantic end of the memorial.

Even the flooring looks cool. This one looks very Roman.

Lincoln Memorial from the outside.

With Weijie, Weng Hong and Mr Abraham.

Breathtaking view from the top of the Lincoln Memorial overlooking the Reflecting Pools and the Washington Memorial. Looks very much more majestic in real life.

Ducklings relaxing along the Reflecting Pool. They are not the least camera shy. Very well trained indeed.

Proceeded to visit some of the museums.

Ripley's Museum. We all thought it was Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum, but apparently it was not. Juz some other museum named after another guy called Ripley.

This is the National Air and Space Museum. Looks very much like our science centre.

Food in Washington is damn ex! Mac's is like one of the cheapest alternatives, and the cheapest meal is like USD$7! And the smallest burger is a Big Mac! Haha. Most local people eat double or triple quarter pounders. At least that's what I assume.

National Gallery of Art.

Another boliao pic we took coz we din wanna keep using the same few poses. Turned out to be quite good. Haha.

The art gallery is beautiful. It is so large it consists of an east and a west wing, and each gallery leads to many other galleries, so much so that we got separated from each other unknowingly, and it was damn hard to retrace our steps because all the galleries looked the same. But I was really amazed by the paintings on display. Made me wanna be a painter too. Some of the paintings I managed to snap before my cam died on me.

The crucifixion.

St Francis of Assisi.

Photo taken with two policemen on horseback patrolling the park. Everybody seems to be wanting to take pics with them that it appears to me their main job is to keep the tourists happy.

This is a pic of the Capitol taken halfway between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. I have no idea what it's for, but it looks really magnificent, although I disliked the attitudes of the police stationed there.

Been quite a long post. That's all for now. Work's catching up with me and it's tough to find time to blog, but I will do my best. I hope.

First Week Random Pictures

2006-05-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

Been in Virginia for about 10 days now. Some random pictures I took.

Most shopping centres here look like that. Most of them comprise slightly more than 10 shops only.

Cheap and good Chinese food!

KFC outlet about a half an hour walk away from our hotel. While we were walking, the whole sky suddenly turned dark and the we struggled to advance against the strong winds. We learnt later that there was a tornado alert which we were totally ignorant about.

The chicken pieces are huge! Maybe about twice the size of a piece in Singapore. Shown here is Xinyan's face in comparison. Almost the same size right?

Weird stuff you find in supermarkets here. These are horny melons.

Red bananas.

Ice cream here is cheap. Very cheap. It's 6 bucks for 2 tubs of Ben & Jerrys. That's even cheaper than 1 tub in Singapore.

Haagen Dazs is even cheaper! 5 for 2 tubs! Pity they dun have macadamia brittle.

My first pic in Paramount's Kings Dominion, my workplace. In the background is the Eiffel Tower, the tallest structure in the Park at 331.5 feet.

Trying to take a pic at the Rebel Yell. Ended up blocking the roller coaster.

The Rebel Yell. One of 12 roller coaster rides at Kings Dominion. Two coasters run side by side simultaneously, one moving forward and one moving backwards.

The Virginian sunset. One of the things I love most about this place. It's beautiful!

Look closely. It's not fried rice. It's the proof of the amount of prawns we 4 ate at a Chinese buffet. Can't believe it. I actually peeled and ate prawns as if they were peanuts!

Will post up pics of Washington D.C. once I get them sorted out.

p.s. I can't seem to tag on my tagboard. Dunno if there's a problem with the tagboard or issit juz my computer terminal.

Trip to the James

2006-05-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

I'm quite lagging in my posts. Been about 3 days since I've been to the James River. Too busy and lazy to blog also. Been going to Paramount for orientation and training these past 2 days, walking miles to try cheap and different food, watching NBA playoffs and playing mahjong (yes mahjong! though the tiles are a little small.. but better than nothing). As usual, will let my pics do the talking.

This is the kind of bus stops you'll see in Virginia. It's so small and insignificant you'll most probably miss it. And the buses come once every hour, so everyone noes the bus timings, and it's very exact. Miss it and you'll juz haf to wait another hour. Pic taken with Xiuling, Xin Yan and Weng Hong.

This is the view of uptown west of Richmond, where my hotel is located. Buildings are pretty sparsely populated.

This is downtown Richmond. Buildings are taller and more closely packed together. And there are pedestrian crossings, unlike uptown, where we all jaywalk, although American motorists are one of the most courteous in the world. The stop for you no matter where u jaywalk, irregardless of whether you're on the main road or in the car park.

This is how their highways look like on our walk down to James River. Looks pretty much like CTE.

Chanced upon a patch of empty space near the river. Being suaku Singaporeans, we rushed to take turns to take photos. I like this pic. Doesn't it remind you of a a picture u see whenever u are applying for entry into a uni where all the students look like dey are damn happy studying while lazing on the grass. Sad to say, NUS is a far cry away. Think anyone would laze in the sun while studying for mid term the next day? And don't be fooled by the sunshine. It's really quite cold there, which explains the jackets. I love the weather though.

Picture of the NUS students that went down together to the river.

Along the way, we spotted a memorial. Memorials are a big thing in Richmond, which is a historic American city. Apparently it played a major role during the American civil war. Half the attractions in the city are memorials. The other half are museums. This is so not the place for me!!! Help!!

In honour of the soldiers who died in these wars.

Everything is upsized in the US. These WWII memorial roses are the size of my extended palm!

Giant statue which looked more magnificent in real life.

Pic taken with Weijie. I have absolutely no idea why my tongue was sticking out.

With Weiyi, my fellow Life Science fac mate.

Simple and elegant

Finally got to the James River. The man-made canals made it look somewhat like Kallang River, but nicer.

Notice I'm the only one without a jacket. They jokingly call me "hero" coz I'm alwaes in shorts.. fact is.. I ONLY have shorts!! haha.. but cold weather's cool.. I like cold weather. At least with the sun kissing my skin.

James River leads out into a larger river, where there are small rapids that people use for whitewater rafting. Overlooking the river in the distant hills is the Hollywood cemetery. Haven't been there yet. Maybe someday. There's a trail on the walk (known as canal walk) which shows the rich history of Richmond on the boards. Too bad my cam batt went flat and I forgot to bring my spare out.

Last pic I managed to take before my cam died on me.

There was a long suspension bridge hanging over the James, leading to Belle Isle. Belle Isle used to be known as the Island of Misery, because it used to be an island where prisoners were kept and tortured. Those who tried to escape the fortifications around the island were shot. Today, the area is preserved as a historial heritage showing remains of the structures of yesterday. Weird thing is, there are dog toilets made specially for dogs to relieve themselves, but not one single toilet on the entire isle! Will upload the pics once I manage to get them from my friends.

A Whole New World

2006-05-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

Today is the third day I've been in Richmond. Still trying to get used to the weather and the time difference. I keep feeling sleepy in the afternoons and I can't seem to sleep at nights. Temperature fluctuations are really common too. Can be freezing one moment and scorching the next. One thing I like though is the low humidity. You never sweat despite the strong sunshine.

Here are a few photos of where I've been these past few days.

Departure day:

Played mahjong and watched elections the night before till about 2 plus. Shengwei and Zhiyong stayed over to fetch me over to the airport. Thanks bros. And good luck for your exams too Ming! My dad was over at the airport to send me off too.

Arrival in Taipei:

Reached Taipei about 1pm after about 4 hours plus of flying. Everything looked pretty much the same from when I went over one year ago. Hung around at the transit area for about 3-4 hrs before my next flight to Anchorage. Met a few other Singaporeans who happened to be going to LA and New Jersey and we played dai dee in the waiting area to kill time.

Somehow the airport looked very empty. Too empty for comfort. And it was hard getting around coz everywhere looked the same.

My waiting area where I waited with another Singaporean. This is also where I got the free internet access.

Phone charging machine activated by me, my other Singaporean friend, and an unknown angmoh. I managed to activate the machine and my friend figured out how to charge. As for the angmoh, well, he just ooh and ahhed and became the first person to charge his hp, in the process taking up my fren's only Samsumg charging slot. Doesn't it just remind you of expats?

Stopover in Anchorage:

Got off at Anchorage after about 8 and a half hours of flying. Was quite glad to get off the plane as the leg space in the airplane was too small for comfort. Was about 930am when I reached (about 130am Singapore time). First thing I noticed when I got off the plane was the scenery. Absolutely breathtaking! The snowcapped mountains behind the airplanes were simply picturesque, making the background look a bit like a poster. However, after I crossed the customs, I realised it was a damn small airport with only one souvenir shop, and the other side of the airport overlooked an endless plain. I wonder who would live there. Think i'll go mad if dey even made me stay dey for a week! Luckily, the stopover lasted only about an hour.

Arrival in New York:

Got a first glimpse of New York just before the plane landed around 1030pm (about 1030am Singapore time). From where I was seated, I could see blobs of bright light in the distance. Slowly, these bright lights multiplied as the plane descended to reveal an entire plethora of street and building lightings that lit up the entire New York night sky. Simply beautiful! Too bad I din have a window seat or I would have taken a photo of the scenery.

JFK International Airport arrival hall.

Heard many stories about NY's airport. Heard the security was gonna be very strict and it was gonna take a long time to get checked out of the airport. To my surprise, I managed to get out after collecting my baggage and submitting a form I filled out on the plane. They did not check through my baggage or even look through my passport. I know I already passed the customs in Anchorage, but I really expected more from a city claiming to take all precautions against terrorism. It was terrible.

Interior of JFK International Airport. Reminds me of Suntec.

Upon exit, we were greeted by hordes of taxi drivers who immediately started to push for rides in their vehicles to our hotels. Luckily, I was with a group of fellow Singaporeans in the program, and we made a right choice to seek enquiry with the airline counter, who told us there was free transport provided to the hotel. Upon arrival, I checked a group of PRC students and realised that dey were conned by a black, thinking he was a representative coming to pick them up, into boarding his vehicle. In the end, they had to pay US$150 for the 10 min ride to our hotel! These incidents really made me change my first impressions of New York.

Upon arrival at Ramada Hotel, I showered and totally concussed, but though not for long, as we were told that there was only one shuttle that would send us to the airport, and it was at 5am. Managed to sleep about 2 plus hours.

Accomodation in Ramada Hotel. Not a fantastic hotel, but good enough for the night.

Reached La Guardia Domestic Airport at about 530am and waited till about 4 hours before flying off to Richmond. Sunrise is quite early here in the States. It's quite bright by 6am, and it doesn't get dark until about 830pm.

Waiting to check in coz we reached way to early.

Spot the dog in the pic. Apparently it's quite a common sight in the airport, and these dogs are able to take the flight too. Damn good life.

My plane to Richmond.

Tried to act hero in this pic by wearing only a tee. Was about 12 degrees and winds were strong. I rushed up the plane immediately after this pic.

The interior of the plane was damn small. Looked like a big school bus, and had only one air stewardess. There was much more legroom than China Airlines though.

Arrival in Richmond, Virginia

The flight from NY to Richmond took only bout an hour, much to my pleasant surprise.

Dun be deceived by the pictures. Much of the airport was actually under renovation, and signs were quite unclear. The arrival hall and departure hall were the same, and I had a hard time finding my way out.

After checking into our hotel, I went out to have lunch with the fellow Singaporeans I met on the plane. Was about 2 plus by then and we were famished.

Check this out! It's damn cheap la! And the buffet food was good!

Me, Weng Hong, Xiuling, Xin Yan

We went to Food Lion next. It's one of their many local grocery stalls and I tell you, American items are damn huge la! Even the fruit and veggies! Their onions are bigger than softballs! And mineral water is damn ex here. It's about US$2 per bottle. Apparently dey think it's damn healthy. I took a nutrition module last sem and apparently, it's not much diff from normal drinking water.

Their giant bananas dwarf the pineapples.

They actually peel the prawns readily for those lazy asses out there! Perfect for me!

Doesn't it remind u of Haagen Daz ice cream? Guess wat? It's Campbell soup.

These people really eat and drink a lot. Who drinks wine from jerry cans?

Reached back at the hotel about 6 in the evening. Too tired to do anything else. Just concussed.

Up next, pics of the James River!

The People That Mean The World To Me

2006-05-08T23:42:00.000-07:00

Had a BBQ with my family and close friends the day before I left. Really warm feeling to see these faces I noe I would sorely miss during my stint in the US. Pity Auntie Nee and Goon were not able to make it. I was also very glad and grateful dat Ah Ming took time out for coming over despite preparations for his exams in 2 days. Some pics below.

Had some tasty home-made bak kut teh that my Little Girl made. Gonna miss your soups baby.

BBQ time!

Think the food speaks for itself. Proudly sponsored by Auntie Nee and Goon. Thanks also to Dear Dear and Uncle Kiat for the preparation. Used to have more frequent BBQ sessions in the past. Back den, we used to have a new face for each BBQ session, kinda like a meet-the-friends-cum-friends' relatives session. Haha. We should have another one when I come back and before Shengwei leaves. Hopefully there will be someone new to meet. Make use of the holidays guys!

My cute little cousins Jen Jen and Ken Ken. Gonna miss their cute antics and their back-scratching services. Haha.

Me with Dear Dear and Uncle Kiat. You guys take care. Miss you guys.

a cheery Shengwei and a cheeky Little Girl

Three Skinny Peeps

Ah ming. My bro since pri one. Dat's 16 long years buddy. Still haven't changed one bit. Aspiring to be a future shareholder of Singapore Pools.

Before: Still having fun together

After: Ah Ken looking traumatised after Ah Ming and Shengwei playfully tried to dump him into the rubbish bin. Literally "playing with him". Haha. He looks damn poor thing in the pic.

My primary school buddies: (from left) Shengwei, Zhiyong, Yunjia, Me, Yingjin and Ah Ming

Take care guys. Gonna miss you guys!

Especially you...

Hey rem to update me frequently bout wat's going on at home peeps! I wanna noe wat's going on back home too! Can't believe i took damn long to do dis post. Hopefully I'll get better at this as time goes by. Will post my pics of New York and Richmond soon! Going off to sleep now.. Watch this space!

p.s. I wasn't able to upload some of the pics, especially some of the individual ons i took with u guys. Wait till i get familiar with this stuff. Cheers